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6.3: Introductions

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    The beginning of a news story is known as the introduction or intro. In the US and some other countries, it is called the lead (also spelled “lede”). It is meant to capture attention and to draw the reader, listener, or viewer in. In South Africa most journalists use the term "intro''.

    There are two basic types of intros: hard and soft. A hard intro summarises the essential facts of the story — the 5 W’s and the H discussed earlier — whereas a soft intro may set the scene or introduce a character. Another way to look at the difference between these types of intros is to consider a hard intro as the answer to the question, “What’s the news?” and a soft intro as the answer to the question, “What’s the story?”

    Either type of intro can be used for a hard-news story. For example, a story about the election of a new president could be written one of several different ways:

    A hard intro might read like this:

    Former rebel leader James Makanga was elected president of Wakanda tonight, winning more than 80 percent of the vote in the country’s first democratic election since 1993.

    A soft intro would take a different approach:

    Growing up in Freeville, James Makanga was a little boy with big dreams. Always small for his age, he says the bigger boys at school bullied him. When he told his grammar schoolteacher he would be president someday, she laughed. No one is laughing now. Makanga won yesterday’s election with more than 80 percent of the vote, becoming Wakanda’s first democratically elected leader since 1993.9

    As you can see, a hard intro tends to be shorter than a soft intro — often, only one sentence long. While a soft intro can be longer, every sentence in the intro supports the main point of the story. Also, both include the most newsworthy elements of the story. Choosing the right kind of intro depends on many factors, including the importance and timing of the story and the type of news organisation, publication, or broadcast involved. News stories that thrive on immediacy generally use hard leads. A weekly news programme or magazine is more likely to use a soft intro because most of the audience would already know the main facts of the story.

    The most common type of soft intro is the anecdotal lead, similar to the example used in the president story. An anecdote is, by definition, a brief story; when used as an intro, it illustrates or foreshadows the larger story. A story about a social trend might begin with several related anecdotes or examples. On rare occasions, a quotation or a question may be the best way to begin a story. All of these intros also can be described as “delayed” intros, because the reader has to wait for several sentences to find out what the story is really about. But keep in mind that, in news writing, you should always get to the point of the story quickly and always use the most important information first. In news features, you can keep the reader waiting a bit longer before you get to the main point. In a feature, you almost “tease” the reader in a way by making them curious so that they continue reading.

    Reference

    1. Wakanda is an imaginary country and James Makanga is an imaginary person, used here to illustrate how to write an intro.

    This page titled 6.3: Introductions is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.