Deconstructing an Associated Press Lede
A step-by-step guide
The Associated Press lede is the Petrarchan sonnet of journalism.
Though it follows a strict structure, the AP style straight news lede allows for infinite variation, allowing the news to be the focus of the story.
Here is a sample lede from a routine AP story:
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (AP) — A judge walking from his car into the county courthouse was shot by a gunman Monday morning but managed to fire back before a probation officer stepped in and ultimately killed the suspect, authorities said.
Let’s break it down, step by step.
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio
The dateline is required for Associated Press stories which are based in specific locations. A broad national story does not always come with a dateline. City and state are required unless the story is being reported from one of a handful of major U.S. cities (Los Angeles, Dallas, New York City) that the AP deems notable enough that a state is not needed. The city is in all capitals and the state is in regular text.
(AP)
Some Associated Press stories come without a byline. The (AP) then serves to notify the reader who wrote this story.
A judge walking from his car into the county courthouse
There are two kinds of subjects in an Associated Press story. 1) A subject that is well-known enough to be referenced by name with only a brief modifier (President Trump, Microsoft founder Bill Gates). 2) A subject who is not well-known and who will only be described (the lone fugitive from the Spanish cell that killed 15 people in and near Barcelona). This is the latter. Note that the additional description doesn’t tell us what type of judge (circuit, federal, district) but instead gives the more interesting detail of what he was doing at the time.
was shot by a gunman
The verb in an Associated Press story is typically active. In this case, a passive verb is used because the gunman’s identity is not yet known. The verb typically comes within the first seven words. In this case, the longer than normal subject (“a judge walking from his car into the county courthouse”) pushes it back a little, but it’s still early in the sentence. There are no subordinate clauses or time elements (Friday, in August) so far.
Monday morning
The time element is added quickly and unobtrusively after the verb.
but managed to fire back before a probation officer stepped in and ultimately killed the suspect,
The lede then gives more information in a subordinate clause which comes after the verb. A strong subject-verb combination drives the lede like a train engine, with a subordinate clause coming up at the end like a caboose. The subordinate clause follows the same rules: strong subject-verb pairing, clear and active verbs.
authorities said.
Attribution (according to official documents, police said) is always reserved for the very end of the sentence.
Length: 39 words
The lede fits the general Associated Press guideline for length: 25 to 30 words, no more than 40.
More details are in the second sentence
Jefferson County Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr. was shot at around 8 a.m. near the courthouse in Steubenville, just across the Ohio River from West Virginia’s northern panhandle, roughly 30 miles west of Pittsburgh.
The follow-up sentence reiterates what happened in the lede, but with more of the less newsworthy details, including the judge’s name, the exact time and the exact location.
