headlins

           Headline

What is Headline   ?   

•  The top of a newspaper article or a page in a      The definition of a headline is the title at book. An example of a headline is the title of the day's most important news story, printed in large type.         
• a line at the top of a page in a book, giving the running title, page number, etc.
•  A line or lines, usually in larger type, at the top of a newspaper article, giving a short statement of its contents
• an important item of news

Headline writing process: news, features 

·        Be quick, but don’t hurry. Don’t allow the goal of “pushing pages” before deadline to short-circuit the need to write accurate, clear, tasteful headlines.  Remember: readers start here.

• Understand the news peg or feature angle. 
• Use the Key Word system: select key words from story (but don’t parrot lead). Select words that reflect the central theme of the article. 
• For news heads: play it straight, summarize the news. 
• For feature heads: be creative. Tease, flirt, hint - but don’t give away lead. 
• In feature heads, use freshened clichés, creative puns, twists of ad slogans, well-known sayings. 
• Highlight intrigue, contrast or conflict within central theme, using key words. 
• Avoid lazy headline writing. Don’t settle for your first try, then change type size to make it fit. 
• Don’t fall in love with your own cute, creative puns. The challenge: rewrite and make it better. 
• Seek the input of others: How can the headline be misread? Does it work? 
• Listen to the lone ranger: honer the courage of one brave soul who objects.  One person who doesn't “get it” now represents thousands who won’t get it later. 
• When it comes down to Cute vs. Truth, make sure you choose the right one

     Banner Headline

• The journalism industry is highly competitive, and attracting the attention of the readers, viewers or listeners is the most important thing. The audience should have a reason for choosing a particular newspaper, television channel or radio station. Headlines play an important role in attracting attention, especially in print media. Banner headlines are words printed in extra large letters across the top of the front page of the newspaper on extremely important stories; they are not used frequently, but when they are used, they have significant impact.

 Words printed in very large letters across the top of the first page of a newspaper: A large newspaper headline, especially one across the top of the front page. 
             Banner headlines are attention grabbers. They set the tone, and are used sparingly. A classic banner headline has three key characteristics.

1. Magnitude
     It is written only for those events that can be considered “earth shaking” such as the sudden fall of government; a natural calamity that claims hundreds of lives; a scientific breakthrough that can change the course of mankind; an act of criminal violence that shakes the conscience of the nation; a court judgement that can reshape the country’s polity. It is for the newspaper editor to assess the magnitude of the event before giving the green signal to run the banner.

2. Display
A banner headline is run across eight columns, and placed on top of the front page of the newspaper. It is set in the highest point size that the newspaper style permits. No other headline on the front page is written in a point size bigger than the banner headline. There was a time when the banner headline was set only in capital letters. This made the headline stand out. It is not so today. Newspapers today run banners in the upper lower format too.

3. Usage
The banner headline is used rarely. There is great sanctity attached to the significance of a banner headline. The editors realise that they will dilute the importance of banner headlines if they use it too often. They therefore reserve it “for the rarest of the rare” stories.

Flush Left Headline

This is one of the more modern headline forms in use. It consists of two or three lines of headline, each one set flush left to the left side of the space. The design is simple and allows freedom in writing the headline. No rules govern the writing of the flush left headline; however a uniform style for better results is generally adopted. This type of headline is popular because it is easy to write, allows flexibility in unit count and provides a feeling of airiness to the page with the white space.

Cross-Line Headline

• The cross-line headline is quite similar to a banner headline. While it is a large headline, it does not span the entire width of the page, but it does run across all the columns of the story it pertains to. The cross-line headline is one of the simplest types of headlines, consisting of a single line and one or most often more columns in width. It can run flush on both sides of the paper or it can have the words centered over the columns. This type of headline is generally used when there is more than one column for a story and to produce a formal look.

Inverted Pyramid Headline

• There are distinct advantages to using the inverted pyramid headline style for news writing. People often are in a rush and seldom have time to read every word of a story. The advantage of the inverted pyramid headline is that it concentrates on presenting pertinent facts first. With inverted pyramid stories, the most important information goes in the first paragraph, and the less important information follows to the very end of the story.
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   The inverted pyramid headline generally consists of three lines -- the first runs across the column and the other two lines are shorter than the first line. The headline is created from the informative facts presented at the start of the story, giving the reader the most important points quickly.
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