Long ago the noun lede was an alternative spelling of lead, but now lede is mainly journalism jargon for the introductory portion of a news story—or what might be called the lead portion of the news story. Strictly speaking, the lede is the first sentence or short portion of an article that gives the gist of the story and contains the most important points readers need to know. For example, the below lede, from a New York Times story, gives the main piece of news, allowing readers who are not interested in the details to feel sufficiently informed:





The White House on Wednesday directed the Justice Department to release to the two Congressional Intelligence Committees classified documents discussing the legal justification for killing, by drone strikes and other means, American citizens abroad who are considered terrorists.

Lede also appears, sometimes figuratively, in the expression bury the lede, meaning to begin a news story with nonessential details. Bury the lead sort of works, but bury the lede is the conventional spelling of this expression.






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