Study on News Lead

There are a few ways of writing a lead in a news article, however what is the difference between summary lead, contrast lead, punch lead, anecdotal lead, and descriptive lead?

1. Summary lead

The lead of this news article from The Star online use summary lead. The lead summaries the whole news into a sentence consist of the 5W1H (who, what, when, why, where, and how) then it elaborates what happened during the event or incident in the next paragraphs.

2. Contrast lead

The article from Buzzfeed News on the government shutdown in America use contrast lead as the last sentence wrote the congress treating the shutdown like a normal situation rather than a national crisis.

3. Punch lead

The article on plastic pollution from National Geographic use punch lead because the plastic pollution is getting serious and public awareness and action are also taking action to combat plastic pollution.

4. Anecdotal lead

The lead describe how do people wear t-shirts then the next paragraph introduce the two entrepreneurs they started their business by selling t-shirts.

5. Descriptive lead

The lead describe the life of a firefighter which they have to juggle between their meal time and fire emergency.