bury the lead

English

Alternative forms

Verb

bury the lead (third-person singular simple present buries the lead, present participle burying the lead, simple past and past participle buried the lead)

  1. (idiomatic) (news writing style) To begin a story with details of secondary importance to the reader while postponing more essential points or facts.
    • 1977, "Don't bury the lead. This is similar to backing into the lead, except that the major element has been buried several paragraphs down"[1]
    • 2004, "Don't bury the lead in the body of your story. As a TV news viewer, I'm poised to change the channel"[2]

References
  1. William Metz, Newswriting: From Lead to "30" →ISBN, p. 61
  2. Steve Garagiola, TV News: Writing and Surviving →ISBN, p. 20
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.