Ok.. this is a joke on the old teases- like 'when sneakers kill…'.
I couldn't resist!
And please note: I prefer spelling 'lead'- eg. 'lead line'- as 'lede' to
avoid confusion in print.
Moving on: Our job as journalists is to discover and report news. If
you're anchoring it's unlikely you've done the discovery- but it's certainly
your job to know the story so that you can share it with us from a base of
intelligence and context.
We like to start with strong ledes. The measure of a strong lede is
based on journalism.. not on your ability to be clever or glib. If you
want to write for Colbert or Stewart or Letterman- that's great! Their jobs
often look like fun- but we've chosen to report all the serious stuff-
before it's converted to wry-ness.
Here's a lede that had me thinking 'uh-oh'. The second sentence
explained it. My doppelganger News Coach cop wanted to issue a
warning. Here's the violation:
"The next story could be a jaw-dropper for some. Universal Studios
Theme Park in Orlando will soon close the "Jaws" ride for good. " Hmm:
jaw/jaws.. dropping. Maybe I'm losing my sense of humor or
appreciation of creativity?
Sloppy writing can be as perilous as a grizzly. One morning I woke up
to a radio warning that "grizzlies" have been spotted in suburban New
Jersey. Now this could be dangerous.. but I suspected that a naïve
writer thought a 'grizzly' was a cute pop-substitute for bear. By
trying to be folksy- a dangerous, non-indigenous type of bear was
substituted for the more benign 'black bear'. Please double-check your
accuracy if you attempt to be glib.
My latest, most complex violation came from an anchor who read the lede to
his next story: "They say that music can soothe the savage breast".
Please never write 'they say'. Who says? Where's the attribution?
(William Congreve: "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast").
The anchor looked awkward and hesitant. Another reason for always
reading your script in advance! My advice- if a lede gives you pause
to evaluate: knock it out. A) it's rare that we ever feel 100%
comfortable with someone else's writing… and B) I don’t' believe that having
to trudge through a wince-worthy lede is written in anyone's contract.
The story was about music therapy for cancer. The lede was a literal
'match' of sorts but I personally think it was pushing way too hard.
If you're in a time crunch.. or if you believe a story begs for a lede that
you just can't come up with- don’t sweat it! You'll never be faulted for
writing a short, factual first sentence. And when it comes to serious
stories- it's the only way to go.
Joanne Stevens
Previously featured on
the Radio Television Digital News Association
as the News Coach blog series.