ABSTRACT
To guarantee that all of the important news elements are reported in a story, newspaper journalists devised a rule that requires newswriters to answer six basic questions: Who, what, where, when, why, and how. This rule is referred to as the five Ws and H rule. Much like that press conference, the lead is comprised of the opening words that set the stage for what's to follow. As the first sentence of a news story, the lead is the most crucial element of any report. Another option is to simply move to another station with a more compelling story. One challenge in writing a lead is deciding on the appropriate emotion, or tone, to express in the story. The shotgun, or umbrella, lead can be effective for combining two or more related stories: forest fires continue to roar out of control in California, Oregon, and Washington State.
