The first paragraph of a news story is known as the lead. Most often, the lead is one long sentence that summarizes the facts of the news story in order of most newsworthy to least newsworthy. This helps the reader know at a glance what the story will be about. The lead also sets the structure for the rest of the story.

Typical Story Lead

Because of concerns over the growing menace of the West Nile virus and the need to educate physicians on newly developed diagnosis techniques, doctors from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) met today with representatives from the American Family Physicians Society.