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The old Frank Sinatra rule


Just thinking about the sort of "introduction to journalism" course one can take at any decent four year college, or perhaps in the context of an associates' program.

They generally teach that the first sentence should cover all the Ws: who, what, where, when, and why.

"The chief of the Smallville fire department personally rescued a small cat from a chimney in the Soapsy neighborhood Saturday afternoon in response to a 911 call."

Good lede.  [Yes, journos generally spell it 'lede' for the same reason that a certain Zeppelin is described as 'led'. The spelling 'lead' -- as an alternative to led or lede -- can be confusing.]  

The italicized sentence is a good lede.  The rescue of the cat is the what.  Who rescued the cat? The chief (identified here by role not by name). Where? a chimney in the Soapsy neighborhood. When? Saturday afternoon. Why?  In response to a 911 call. 

Of course the rest of the story can expand on any or all of these points. But what I'm thinking about today is the "who".  In a mainstream media story you will find that the lede, i.e. the first sentence, usually does not contain a proper name. The Who is given on first mention by function or job title. 

The second sentence of this story might be, "The chief -- John Sinclair -- has been with the department for 20 years and received the top post a year ago. Sinclair said this was his first ever cat-rescue mission." 

There are exceptions.  I was once told in such a course that a story about a mugging of Frank Sinatra would have Sinatra's name in the lede. It would not say, "Opening night for the new movie, 'The Manchurian Candidate' was marred by a mugging of the lead actor in the movie on a street adjacent to the theatre soon after the festivities broke up." You Name Sinatra.

By the way, no such mugging happened at that opening night in 1962.  And I invented the kitty story, too. 

The exception itself became a rule of sorts back in the day.  Use the personal name of the Who, rather than a job title or descriptive phrase, in the lede if and only if in the story the Who is someone as well known to your readers as Frank Sinatra would have been to newspaper readers in 1962. 

So now you know the Frank Sinatra rule. 

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