The lead of a news-story is really very simple in its construction,
as far as the main outlines are concerned. In actual daily practice
you will find that the working out of the same principles results in
an infinity of effects. But fully ninety-five per cent of the stories
in American newspapers are begun on the same principle, that of the
“straight news lead.”
For the basis of any news-story will, upon analysis, always turn out
to be that somebody or something has done something or is now doing
something, or is going to do something. Either Mrs. Smith has just
died, or Mr. Williams is now building an addition on his store, or
the Red Men will tomorrow stage a monster parade. Fox’s mill burned
down last night, or plans are now going forward for the new freight
depot, or the janitors’ strike begins tomorrow. WHO did WHAT can be
set down as the first two elements which will certainly go to make up
the “lead,” as without them there would be no news at all. In this
connection, also, we always give ample identification, so there can be
no mistake as to WHO is meant, which John Jones it is. If necessary we
give his age, address, profession, etc., so that in a large city he can
be identified.
But readers of newspapers are also interested in the locality in which
the action took place, and in the time at which it occurred. If John
Jones killed his wife, they want to know where it happened and at what
hour. Did he do it at home or abroad? We give the home address of
the Joneses in either case, and if the murder occurred elsewhere we
give that address likewise. And at what time did he do it, demand the
readers, at morning, noon, or night? If lightning destroyed the chimney
of the Miller factory, readers want to know when, and they like also to
have given the location of the factory, so that they can check up on
whether it is the Miller factory that they know, or whether it is in
the vicinity where live any of their acquaintances, or near where they
do business, who have thus been in danger. These two elements of time
and place, the WHEN and the WHERE are considered essential to the lead
of a news-story, as well as the agent and his action. So that we might
say the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN were absolute essentials to the
lead. They are always included in a straight news-lead, and no story is
considered complete without them.
There is one more element almost in the same category, and it is
sometimes included to make what are known as the five essentials. When
Mr. Jones killed his wife at their home, 14 East Ninth street, this
morning, most people want to know HOW and WHY he did it. Was it with
an axe or a revolver or Othello-wise with a pillow? Was he jealous or
insane or did he mistake her for a burglar? When the lightning struck
the Miller factory, we want to know how or why it did so. We want to
know if it was the chimney or one of the new tower structures. How
did it strike? What route did it follow? Was it because the mill had
no lightning-rods? This element of the lead is not always included,
however, unless the HOW or the WHY are especially interesting.
These five, then, can be set down as the framework of what is known
as a straight news-story, and you can find the theory in practice by
picking up any copy of any one of the myriad newspapers of the United
States. The statement will not be true of most foreign news-sheets,
as they follow a different technique altogether. This fact accounts
for the “deadness” that many Americans find in English and Continental
papers. They develop their news-stories in a slower fashion. But read
over any ordinary edition of any American paper, and you will find that
fully ninety-five percent of the stories have the five essentials at
the very front tip of the account. The other five percent belong to
another class of stories which will be considered later.