Why is it called headlines

Sensationalising news is hardly new and, in the days of print journalism, there was no guarantee the stories scrutinising the elected and the powerful were being read any more than the titillating content. You can say we're living in the golden era of journalism in the access to the breadth and quality of journalism that we have now. Mr Preston said the changing needs of online audiences means a healthy balance needs to be struck.

Headlines are as old as journalism itself, so are those teasing lines on social media just a progression of an age-old skill? Clickbait seems to be a catch-all for that skill and has very negative connotations, but the reality is more nuanced and the ability to write something enticing on Twitter to pique someone's interest is a real art," said Mr Radcliffe.

I don't share that view, it's just a digital reality. If that's how you get your foot in the door and develop a good story sense and how to write a good headline, I don't see anything wrong with that. But what works for one website will not necessarily work for another, so every organisation has to decide what balance works best. There's a danger of shouting and tarting things up, almost across the board," said Mr Preston.

One perennial frustration for the online reader is the "look at me" headline, which can have negative consequences. It's all very well to do that occasionally when you've got something to interest the reader, but if you overplay your hand, people will find out what you're offering will not match your headline," said Mr Smith.

Where does this leave publicly-funded news outlets like the BBC, which does not have the same commercial pressures as the private sector and has a different editorial policy? Mr Smith said: "It places a bigger burden on the BBC if you've got private sector giving up on public interest journalism. Save This Word! We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Words nearby headline headland , headless , headless mule , head lettuce , headlight , headline , headliner , headline rate , head-load , headlock , headlong. Words related to headline caption , title , header , leader , screamer , scarehead. Background headlines start with contextual information. This is usually a two-part headline, with the first part providing background and the second half explaining the significance or reason for the first statement.

Here are some tips to help you write successful headlines:. Find jobs. Company reviews. Find salaries. Upload your resume. Sign in. Career Development. What is a headline?

Direct headline. Indirect headline. News headlines. How-to headline. Question headline. Command headline. The "reason why" headline. Emotional headline. Wordplay headline. Brand name headline. Best headline. A label head is more neutral. Example: "Governor's veto shows ignorance, arrogance" can be neutralized with a label: "The governor's veto.

It's usually best to read the entire story first. That way you can get a good idea of the theme, and you're more likely to reflect it accurately in your head. It's true, however, that many editors under deadline simply read the first couple grafs, and base their head on that. I usually find it easiest to begin with a lively verb that accurately suggests the story's content, and build around it.

Emphasize people doing things--a basic rule of all mass media content. For instance, if a story is about, say, a city council meeting, I'd think, what did the council DO? Well, perhaps they raised liquor license fees. I can build on that: raises. Or perhaps a more sprightly verb?

Jacks up. Well, some of those are more appropriate than others. Now let's build: "Boosts. Next I see how many lines the head is supposed to be, and separate it as best I can: three-line head. Of course, if the head is too short or too long , you'll need to rewrite. And you can't hyphenate words in a headline, such as.

Sorry, but boy, wouldn't that make an editor's job easier! Generally, heads are written "sentence-style," that is, first letter capitalized, and the rest "down" lower case except for proper names. Other tips:. Headlines must fit the space an editor has left for a story.

For instance, if you have a three-column 3-col story, the headline must run across all three columns of type--or at least half way across the last column. All columns of type must have a headline above see example at left. Normally on larger publications, one editor determines head size, and another editor actually writes the head. The two will communicate using a shorthand of three numbers, such as , a "two thirty-six three.

That means a two-column, 36 point pt , three-line head. Head shorthand is always written this way: number of columns, type size, number of lines. Design principles for attractive headlines mean certain sizes of heads can't be used above certain sizes of stories. How do you know? You consult the publication's headline schedule, " hed sked " for short.

Let's say you'd like to do a 3 col, 14 pts. You consult your hed sked to find this is not listed. That means you can't use it--because the publication's designers or senior editors have determined that type this small across three columns is not attractive in your publication it's also hard to write the head.

A headline's type size in height is measured in points, while the width of columns is measured in picas. About points and picas.

This arcane way of measuring type goes back to s France, and "hot type" days when letters were cast from a lead-tin alloy we moved to offset in the s.

A pica p contains 12 pts. Six picas equals one inch about. So how many points in an inch? Of course it's