Headline Conventions

•Every publication has its own style.•Up vs. down styles.•Action vs. label heads.•Feature vs. news heads.•Freehand vs. structured head styles.•Most pubs have a “hed sked” or headline schedule.

Headline Counts•Head counts may be around two under limit.•Kickers are not counted—just a few words.•Overlines, underlines.•Every deck head is formally counted.•Readouts are brief, sentence-like, not counted.•Some Web heads have tight counts; some have none.

Headline OrdersHead orders have four elements:•Columns wide•Type size•Number of lines•Type face

Manual: 3-30-1 roman bold

Computer:

*3301rb.

Moon Plummets Into Pacific*

Spot Headline Strategy•Tracks spot-story model.•In main head, usually what happened, why.•Decks, why, consequences, what’s next.•Focus on main points—know what you want to say.•Sometimes main head will take consequences, why, what future holds—particularly folos.•Most often action heads.•Most often no puns or other funny stuff.

Enterprise Headline Strategy

• Main head should convey nut’s point.• Often possible to use opening passage to

illustrate.• Decks can convey magnitude, significance,

consequences of story’s point.• Label heads often appropriate.• For light, humorous material, heads can reflect

irony, puns, humor.

Use Strong, Active Language

• Use Strong Subject-Verb Structures in Action Heads:

Moon crashes into Pacific Ocean (yes)

Incident Occurs in Pacific Ocean (no!)

Label Heads•Label heads are just phrases:

A Bad Day at Black Rock

Going Down a Familiar Road

Funk: a sound that’s past its prime

In the East, Fears of Imminent Drought

Used w/features and news features.

Hammer, Kicker Labels

•Short labels serve as kickers, hammers, etc.

Nashville Rebel

Jennings Succumbs to Diabetes

What Happened?•News headlines say what happened, not what didn't:

Storm Topples Radio Tower (good)

No One Injured in Storm (bad)

Present Tense, Mostly•Use present tense for both past and present; use future tense for future; use past for history:

Clinton Defeats Bush (good)

Clinton Defeated Bush (bad)

Clinton to define ‘is’ in speech

Vietnam was America’s first loss

Keep Phrases Together•Keep units of thought on the same line; don't separate parts of verbs, nouns, prepositional phrases.

County Employees

Want Higher Pay (yes)

President to

Talk on

Environment (yuch!)

Qualify Where Appropriate

•Be sure to attribute in headlines that convey opinion or include direct quotes:

Board Decision 'Unfair,' Mayor Says (yes)

School board’s decision is unfair (no)

Single Quotes, Numbers in Heads•When you quote in a headline, use single quotes.

Richards Labels Bush a 'Jerk'

•Generally use numerals in heads:

Crash kills 3 in Thrall (yes)

Crash kills three in Thrall (no)

Colons & Dashes•Colons and dashes can be used to offset attribution.

Bush a 'Jerk'--Richards

Richards: Bush a ‘Jerk’

Richards labels Bush ‘Jerk’

To Be, or Not to Be

•Verb forms of "to be" generally may be omitted from heads, though this is changing:

Budget Inadequate, Employees Say (good)

Budget Is Inadequate, Workers Say (becoming popular)

To Conjunct, or Not to Conjunct?

•You may use a comma to replace the word "and," though conjunctions are showing up more frequently in heads.

Bush, Richards Agree to Debate

Bush and Richards Set to Debate

Articles or Not?

• Articles (a, an, the) are usually omitted, but many publications are now using them.

Sad Day for Coin Collectors (historical)

A sad day for coin collectors (more frequent)

It’s a sad day for coin collectors (more frequent)

DUWA*•Avoid obscure acronyms in headlines.

IFRS Study Suggests Nothing’s Coordinated

Study Finds Randomness Everywhere

*Don’t use weird acronyms!

Semicolons in Heds• Use semicolon to separate independent clauses.

Whole Foods profits

rebound; rise 34% (wrong)

Whole Foods profits

rebound, rise 34% (right)

Notes

•Avoid ampersands except in corporate titles.

•Never use a hyphen at the end of a line.

KickersBig Splash

Moon Plunges Into Pacific Ocean

*18ib.

Big Splash

*

*336rb.

Moon Plunges Into Pacific Ocean

*

Kicker is usually 18 point, can be other.

Just a phrase—not formally counted.

UnderlinesMoon plunges into Pacific OceanHawaii missing as Earth wobbles on its axis

*4361rb.

Moon plunges into Pacific Ocean

*

Underline

*18rb.

Hawaii missing as Earth wobbles on its axis

*

OverlinesHawaii missing as Earth wobbles on its axis

Moon plunges into Pacific Ocean

*4361rb.

Moon plunges into Pacific Ocean

*

Overline

*18ib.

Hawaii Missing as Earth wobbles on its axis

*

Deck Heads

Moon dives

into Pacific,

hits HawaiiTidal waves

set to smash

coastal areas

*1303rb.

Moon dives

into Pacific,

hits Hawaii

*

*1243ib.

Tidal waves

set to smash

coastal areas

*