Headline Writing Rtot

Headline Writing

News has no title but headlines. An assemblage of words written in bigger, bolder letters than the usual page text at the beginning of the news Headlines are windows of the newspaper as they serve as the quick source of information for

Functions of Headline 1. to attract the readers. 2. to tell the story (in a summary) 3. to add variety of type (to break

monotony in a sea of type) 4. to identify personality or distinction of newspaper (use of font/style of letters) 5. to index/grade the news (big type for important news; small

Qualities of a Good Headline 1. It attracts the reader’s eye and

directs its attention to the story beneath it. 2. It is concisely constructed to save space. articles and other unnecessary words are omitted. 3. It must be positive and active. 4. It is adjusted to a predetermined typographical style of paper

Things to Remember in Headline 1. The headline presents the

news in a CAPSULE, thus it is TELEGRAPHIC 2. The headline must contain the most important, the most intriguing, the most unusual fact of the story. 3. The headline must be so constructed as to catch the reader’s attention and make

Things to Remember in Headline 4. Size and length of the headline must be proportional to the length of the story and its importance. 5. The headline is based on the lead. 6. The headline makes use of special vocabulary which is not suitable for ordinary communication situations.

Guidelines for Writing Headline 1. First, read the story for general meaning. 2. Clues to the headline are usually in the lead. • What happened? • Who did what? • How did it happen? 3. Use the shortest words possible. Examples: cop – policeman up - increase

Headline Vocabulary: accord allay anew assail cite crown dip Ex grill hit slay/kill

- agreement - to calm - again - to attack with arguments - mention; enumerate - championship - go down - former - investigate - attack -murdered

hike kin ratify nab okay/ok sked vow rule foil bare rift solon

- increase - family - approve; confirm - arrest - approve - schedule - pledge - decide - thwart, rejected - reveal, expose - disagreement -lawmaker, representative

Guidelines for Writing Headline 4. Write headline that is easy to read. Have a subject and a verb. Avoid starting with a verb; the headline might sound as if it were giving orders. (S-V-O pattern) Wrong: Revise money mart guidelines Correct: Central Bank revises money mart guidelines

Guidelines for Writing Headline 5. Use the historical present tense if the verb is in the active voice. Wrong: Delgado topped editorial tilt Correct: Delgado tops editorial tilt 6. Omit the helping verb if the verb is in the passive voice. Only the past participle is retained. Wrong: Drug pushers are nabbed

Guidelines for Writing Headline 7. Use the infinitive for future events. Wrong: Koronadal will host NSPC 2015 Correct: Koronadal to host NSPC 2015 8. Do not use a period at the end of the headline. 9. Omit articles (a, an, the). Wrong: A fire hits Tondo slum area Correct: Fire hits Tondo slum area

Guidelines for Writing Headline 10. Use a comma instead of “and” in writing headlines. Delays, confusion bug Asiad Lacson, Trillanes no show at SONA 11. Use semicolon to separate sentences. Gina Lopez heads Pasig body; Noys swears in 35 other execs 12. Use punctuation marks sparingly.

Guidelines for Writing Headline 13. Use single quotes (‘) in headlines instead of double quotes (“). ‘Lumad’ witnesses tag killers of educator 14. Always give the source of a quote. To use direct quotation as head, use any of the following forms: a. Dash Kayo ang boss ko – Pnoy

Guidelines for Writing Headline 15. Use the down-style – only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized, unless otherwise indicated. Faculty honors Nuñez Lacson, Trillanes no show at SONA 16. Use only widely known abbreviations. DOJ chief to monitor INC cases

Guidelines for Writing Headline 17. Don’t use names unless the person is well known, use common nouns instead. Wrong: Santos electrocuted Correct: Carpenter electrocuted 18. Use specific terms instead of generalities Example: Trader killed Better: Trader stabbed to death

Guidelines for Writing Headline 19. Just report the facts; do not editorialize. Wrong: Noy gives inspiring talks 20. Be positive. Don’t use negatives in headlines. They weaken the stories. Wrong: PTA meeting won’t be held Better: PTA meeting cancelled 21. Never use the word “may”. It denotes the uncertain element

Guidelines for Writing Headline 22. The first line of two-line or three-line headline should not end with a preposition, conjunction, articles or any form of the verb to be, unless the preposition goes with the verb, as in the word call up. 23. Use numbers only if important. Write numbers in figures. B-billion and M-

Guidelines for Writing Headline 24. Avoid Splitting A. a verb phrase Wrong: Debaters chosen to join speechfest Right: Debaters chosen to join speechfest B. names that belong together Wrong: Cruz wins gold medal Right: Cruz wins gold medal

Guidelines for Writing Headline 24. Avoid Splitting C. adjective and the noun it modifies Wrong: 3 Gensan leaders trade accusations Right: 3 Gensan leaders trade accusations D. abbreviations Wrong: Nancy sues Na pocor Right: Nancy sues Napocor

Steps in headline writing  Make sure you understand what the story is about.  Find the action verb and the most important noun, which tell what is happening in the story.  Sum up the story with key words; build this summary around the verb you have

Steps in headline writing  Cast the summary in a sentence.  Shorten the sentence by putting it in headline form.  Once the first draft of the headline is written, find synonyms for key words in the lead and begin substitution as necessary.

Rules in Acronym 1.

2.

3.

4.

Four-letter acronym and below, all letters should be capitalized like WHO, UN, MILF For more than four-letter acronym, only the first letter is capitalized like in Asean, Unicef For syllabic acronym, the first letter of each syllable of the words should be capitalized like DepEd, GenSan, SoCCSKSarGen If the acronym lacks enough

DECK This is the number of lines your headline will have Example: Comelec to deal directly with telcos (1 deck) 10 more cops wanted for Maguindanao massacre (2 decks)

SLUG • SLUG IS THE STORY’S NAME …It is used for the purposes of identification and record keeping. It is usually written in a single word. Ex. Weather - for a weather story Council - for a council meeting Drowning- for a story about

Headline terms

• Columns

 Vertical strips of text.  The thin white spaces between columns are called gutters.  Broadsheets carry 6-7 columns; tabloid and magazines, 4-5 columns

Headline terms

• Headline count  Count or length in units of each line.

Countof ofletters, letters,figures, figures,marks marks Count Widt h ½ unit  

Letters, Figures, Marks Lowercase f, i, j, l, and t

 

Capital I and numerical figure 1 All punctuations except question mark and dashes

1 unit

All other lowercase letters except m and w

 

All other numbers

 

Question mark

 

Spaces between words

1½ units  

Lowercase m and w

    2 units

All capital letters except I, M, and W Dashes Symbols such as ₽, $, %, and & Capitals M and W

UNIT COUNTS A count system considers differences in the widths of letters Capital letters: M, W - 2 units I - ½ init others - 1 ½ units

Small letters: m, w -1½ units j l i f t - ½ unit others - 1 unit

UNIT COUNTS Figures/Punctuation Numbers except 1, ? = 1 unit P$%@#

= 1 ½ unit

-

= ½ unit

, other punctuation

= ½ unit

Space between words = 1 unit

HEADLINE ORDER  Refers to request for a given size of headline.  Three-number sequence that tells (1)how many columns a headline should cover, (2)what point size it should be, and (3)how many lines it should fill. Columns–Font Size–Lines e.g., 6-42-1: six columns wide, 42point type size, one line).

HEADLINE SCHEDULE  Chart that allows one to translate a headline order into a specific count. It tells how many counts of a given point size can fit into a given column width.

 See Headline Schedule Chart.

Headline Schedule Chart Font Size

1 Column

2 Columns

3 Columns

4 Columns

5 Columns

6 Columns

18 points

16 units

33 units

 

 

 

 

24 points

13 units

27 units

40 units

 

 

 

30 points

10.5 units

21.5 units

32 units

43 units

 

 

36 points

9 units

18.5 units

28 units

38 units

47.5 units

 

42 points

7.5 units

15.5 units

23.5 units

32 units

40 units

48 units

48 points

 

13.5 units

20.5 units

28 units

35 units

42.5 units

54 points

 

12 units

18 units

24.5 units

30.5 units

37 units

60 points

 

 

16 units

21.5 units

27.5 units

33 units

72 points

 

 

14 units

18.5 units

23 units

28 units