[Piranha]

At Columbia Journalism School (1979) we were taught “lede” because people would pronounce the other spelling as “led”.

[Bernard Marx]

LOL -- that sounds like something Columbia would do. I imagine the progressives at Missouri were doing the same thing. Thanks, that helps me put things into perspective.

Take my word for it: no self-respecting "old school" reporter would possibly mistake a story's "lead" for the "lead" (actually typemetal) that Linotypes devoured and gave back-shops of the time such a distinctive and wonderful "newspapery" smell.