t for liberty and justice, the rights of small nations, and the cause of the common people.” This lead, while long and indulgently flowery, contains all of the most important aspects of a modern news lead. The elevated language of this piece certainly was not the rule of newswriting at the time, but it does illustrate the old style is not yet dead.Immediately to the left of the previous story on the front page was a story with a very modern lead that states, “A proud and elated Cabinet surrounded the President this afternoon and discussed plans for waging a successful war against Germany.” In this lead, we see the who-what-when-where-why model followed almost perfectly. The only thing missing is the “where”, which is almost self-explanatory given the subjects and the action that are being discussed. While it would be out of the ordinary to see a description of the cabinet as “proud and elated,” in a modern newspaper, it is reasonable. The combination of the two opposite styles of news reporting in the first piece from 1917, and the very modern lead in the second, illustrate that newswriting is changing from the original narrative style that was still very prominent in the newspapers from the Civil War era, to the more contemporary style that can be seen in the news papers of World War II.By 1941 and the start of the second World War, the who-what-when-where-why lead in firmly in place, and would remain an industry standard through today. The front page of the Times form December 8, 1941 has seven lead graphs: “President Roosevelt will address a joint session of congress tomorrow and will find membership in a mood to vote any steps he asks in connection with the developments in the Pacific.”“Japan wen to war against the United States and Britain today with air and sea attacks against Hawaii, followed by formal declarations of hostilities.”“The Japanese landed ...
