A lead is the first sentence or paragraph of a news article. Its job is singular: tell the reader the most important thing immediately, without setup or preamble.
The standard types worth knowing
The summary lead answers who, what, when, where, why — typically in one sentence under 35 words. The anecdotal lead opens with a specific scene or person to create entry through narrative.
Most digital news outlet editors prefer summary leads for breaking news and anecdotal leads for features. The choice is not stylistic preference — it follows the story type.
Where writers lose readers
Burying the news is the most common failure. A lead that begins with background context forces the reader to work before receiving value. That is a structural problem, not a writing problem.
Quick diagnostic questions
- Does the first sentence contain the core news event?
- Could a reader stop after sentence one and still understand what happened?
- Is any word in the lead doing zero informational work?
If the answer to any of these is no, the lead needs revision — not polish, but restructuring.
One honest observation
Writers often protect their leads because they worked hard on them. That attachment is the main obstacle to cutting what does not serve the reader. Treating the lead as a functional tool rather than a creative achievement makes editing considerably less painful.