The When and Where Leads are used rarely. The How Leads are relatively more popular. They are great for building interest.
# When Leads
There are very few leads that start off with the “when” element. These are largely leads that tell you when an event is to occur.
NEW DELHI: The Class XII CBSE results will appear on May 12, the Board Secretary announced in Delhi today.
However, almost all stories have the when element in the lead. This is used to indicate the day or date when the story was written. But this does not make all leads when leads. To be called a When lead, the intro must state when an even is to occur.
# Where Leads
It is very rare when the writer decides to use the Where lead. Mostly, it is used to highlight change that has occurred over the years. The change may be for the better or worse, but it takes the reader to the place of change.
The New Indian Express used a Where lead effectively when it wrote a feature report on the way the CPM office has changed.
KOLKATA, June 21: Things have changed at 31, Alimuddin Street – the ruling CPM’s nerve centre. From just four rooms in which the party set up base 30 years ago in a dilapidated corporation school, its state headquarters has today grown into a four-storey building with a total space of 24,000 square feet. .
# How Leads
The How leads are used largely for analytical stories. They spark the interest of the reader by describing how an issue has developed.
An interesting How Lead was put together by a Mumbai reporter regarding the first words that film star Sanjay Dutt spoke to the media after he was sentenced to six months imprisonment.
MUMBAI: Few know how imprisoned actor Sanjay Dutt’s plea, “Please pray for me. I love my country,” was captured.
It was close to 6.30 p.m. when the gates of Arthur Road Jail opened, and the driver eased the prison van into Mumbai traffic. The impatient media crews who had been camping since morning rushed to get a picture or soundbyte of Sanjay Dutt. A few realising what was happening jumped into their outdoor vans and chased the prison van through heavy evening traffic.
A few succeeded in getting close to the prison van, and captured Sanjay Dutt on film; a few even got a soundbyte as the prison van negotiated its way through the Mumbai traffic with its siren blaring.
Kind of Leads I: Who, What, Why
Kinds of Leads III: Simple, Multiple Point, Quotation
Kinds of Leads IV: Question, Suspense
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