Headline Writing

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Headline Writing
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• Crack Found on Governor's Daughter

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• Something Went Wrong in
• Jet Crash, Expert Says

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• Police Begin Campaign to
• Run Down Jaywalkers

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• Is there a ring of debris around Uranus?

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• Panda Mating Fails Veterinarian Takes Over

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• Miners Refuse to Work after Death

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• Juvenile court to try shooting defendant

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• War Dims Hope for Peace

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• If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last
  Awhile

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• Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures

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• Red Tape Holds
• Up New Bridges

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• Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge

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• Astronaut Takes Blame for
• Gas in Spacecraft

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• Kids Make Nutritious Snacks

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• Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy

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• Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half

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• Hospitals are sued by 7 foot doctors

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THE GREATEST HEADLINE EVER WRITTEN

• Headless body found in topless bar
• New York Post

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A Study in Contrasts

• William J. Brink, a former managing editor of The
  Daily News of New York was responsible for one of
  the most memorable headlines in American
  journalism
• FORD TO CITY DROP DEAD

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A Study in Contrasts

• The corresponding headline in The New York Times
  that day
• FORD, CASTIGATING CITY, ASSERTS HE'D VETO FUND
  GUARANTEE OFFERS BANKRUPTCY BILL

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The Science of Headline Writing

• No. 1 Rule Headlines must tell the reader what
  the story's about
• Headlines must be accurate
• Headlines must be fair
• Headlines must fit and fill the space allotted

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The Science of Headline Writing

• The headlines tone must be consistent with the
  nature of the story
• The headlines tone must be consistent with the
  personality of the publication
• The headline can't say more than the story says
• In other words, the story must sustain the
  headline
• The headline needs to persuade the reader to read
  the story.

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The Science of Headline Writing

• The issue of what words we use and how we use
  them in headlines is important.
• It is often a subject of a newspapers
  ombudsmans weekly column.
• Take, for example, a column by Pam Platt in the
  Louisville Courier-Journal.

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The Science of Headline Writing

• She notes that more than one reader complained
  about the following headline over a story about
  Cindy Sheehan
• " 'Sympathetic Bush says leaving Iraq is wrong'
• The headline, one reader complained
• paints an entirely different and misleading
  picture of the Cindy Sheehan story.
• Obviously, if the President was in fact
  sympathetic, he would have talked with her on the
  day she arrived. . . .
• Once again, The Courier has taken sides in the
  most insidious of ways. Painting the story via
  the headings. Shame on you."

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The Science of Headline Writing

• In another headline readers criticize, the main
  body of Lutherans in the USA was labeled a
  'sect.'
• I know it's a handy, short word with a vaguely
  religious connotation, but there's no way any
  branch of the Lutherans, who originated the
  Reformation 'way back when, meet any but the
  remotest definition of the word.''

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The Science of Headline Writing

• Platt interviewed John McIntyre, former president
  of the American Copy Editors Society and an
  assistant managing editor at the Baltimore Sun.
• He likened writing headlines to a combination of
  playing Scrabble and completing a crossword
  puzzle.

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The Science of Headline Writing

• Asked about those headlines, he said
• " 'Sympathetic Bush' would trouble me because it
  imputes an emotion or attitude, suggesting that
  we know something about the inner workings of
  someone else's mind.
• 'Bush expresses sympathy, stays firm on Iraq' or
  something of the sort would be more neutral and
  factual.''

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The Science of Headline Writing

• "Calling Lutherans a 'sect' probably does carry a
  negative charge. . . .
• 'Denomination' is a long word for a headline
• I sympathize with the copy editor -- but 'sect'
  reads as 'faction,' though not as opprobrious as
  'cult' would have been.
• 'Religion' would also be wrong, because
  Lutheranism is a denomination within a
  religion.''

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John McIntyre on Headline Writing

• Q What should readers reasonably expect from
  headlines?
• McIntyre
• Accuracy, clarity and precision.
• Liveliness and originality are important to
  capturing the reader's interest, but they are
  secondary to accuracy.

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John McIntyre on Headline Writing

• Q What challenges do copy editors face in
  meeting those expectations?
• McIntyre
• There is seldom enough time to polish and refine
  headlines as much as copy editors would like.
• And the lack of time also comes up against the
  fundamental challenge distilling the sense of an
  entire article into half a dozen words.

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John McIntyre on Headline Writing

• Q What are the uppermost cardinal rules of good
  headline writing?
• McIntyre
• Try to follow the vocabulary and syntax of
  conversational English insofar as you can.
• Avoid headlinese ("Solons slate parley") and
  wretched, obvious wordplay ("purr-fect" for any
  story about cats).

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John McIntyre on Headline Writing

• Q What's the best headline you ever read or
  wrote?
• McIntyre On July 4, 1996, when President Bill
  Clinton visited Maryland's Eastern Shore, a bald
  eagle named Freedom, which had been nursed back
  to health after an injury, was released into the
  wild.
• Freedom was then attacked by a couple of ospreys
  and ended up back in the bird hospital.

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John McIntyre on Headline Writing

• When The Sun put the story on its front page,
  Paul Clark, one of the ablest copy editors I have
  ever worked with, came up with
• "Freedom's just another bird/ with nothing left
  to lose.''

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John McIntyre on Headline Writing

• Q What was the worst?
• McIntyre You want to write a famous headline?
  Write a bad one. "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" is still
  the most famous headline in American journalism.

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Headline Checklist

• After you have written a headline, ask
• Does it tell the news clearly?
• If it's a news story, does the headline contain
  the latest developments?
• If it's a feature story, does it convey the basic
  sense of the story?
• Is it accurate and informative?
• From the American Press Institute

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Headline Checklist

• Is it compelling in approach, news angle and
  impact?
• Does it contain concrete nouns and active-voice,
  present-tense verbs?
• Does the tone fit the story, so that when there
  is emotion or a human element, irony or humor it
  is reflected in the head?

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Headline Checklist

• Does it avoid the obstacles to clarity?
• Jargon
• Cliches
• Slang
• Headlinese
• Forced phrases
• Abbreviations
• Acronyms
• Obscure names and puns Serious news stories
  should not contain any puns.

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Headline Checklist

• Does it have words or meanings that are as
  precise as possible?
• Does it make each word count by being direct and
  dense with information?
• Does it play fair by trying to reflect both sides
  of a story if an opposing view exists, or at
  least avoid overemphasizing one point of view?

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Headline Checklist

• Does it avoid danger of libel, take caution with
  sensitive material and include attribution when
  necessary?
• Does it include the "where" when important? Does
  it signal any local involvement in the news when
  it may not be clear otherwise?
• Does it avoid names that may not be well known?
• Does it avoid elements of bad taste, double
  meanings, exaggeration and sensationalism?

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Headline Checklist Things to Avoid

• Inappropriate language or a tone that doesn't fit
  the story.
• Exaggerating conflict, danger, criticism, etc.
• Editorialization or words that suggest an opinion
  of the head-writer.
• A "negative" head using the word "not.
• Conclusions the story doesn't back up.

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Headline Checklist Things to Avoid

• Inappropriate assumptions or interpretations.
• Piled-up adjectives or other modifiers that
  detract from clarity.
• A "label head," unless omitting the verb helps
  the head or the count is so short that a "book
  title" head is the only way out.
• Assumptions that the reader has been following
  the story daily.
• Obscure names that readers won't instantly
  recognize.

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Headline Checklist Things to Avoid

• Undue familiarity, often by using a person's
  first name.
• Abbreviations or acronyms that are not instantly
  recognizable.
• Jargon, which clouds the meaning for readers.
• Cliches, which are neither creative nor
  compelling.
• Meanings the reader won't "get" until the story
  is read.

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Headline Checklist Things to Avoid

• Echoing the lede or stealing the punchline.
• A hard-news head based on facts far down in the
  story.
• Puns in heads on serious news stories.
• Putting first-day heads on second-day stories.
• Using "question" or "colon" heads routinely.