1. JFS

2. 
 The headline is the text indicating the nature of the
article or news story below it. It’s a brief summary
of what is the article about.
 WHAT IS IT’S PURPOSE ?
A headline's purpose is to quickly and briefly
draw attention to the story.
What is a Headline?

3. 
 to tell in capsule form what the story is all about;
 to grade news as to importance ;
 and to make the page look attractive
Functions

4. 
 Flush Left ‐ Both lines are flushed to the left
margin. This is also true with a one‐line headline.
This has to no exact count for the units in each line.
Example:
Family planning
Seminar held
Structure of Headlines

5.  Dropline or Step Form ‐ The first line is flushed left
while the second line is indented. It may consist of two
or three, and sometimes four lines of types of the same
length, somewhat less than a column in width , so that
the first line is flushed to the left, the second centered ,
and the third flushed to the right.
Example:
Local boy scouts
bleed for a cause
Structure of Headlines

6. 
 Inverted Pyramid ‐ The self‐explanatory. Each of the
three or four lines in this head is successively shorter
than the line above it.
Examples:
School launches
kalinisan
drive
Structure of Headlines

7. 
 Hanging Indention ‐ The first line is flushed left.
This is followed by two indented parallel lines.
Examples:
Chief editor
bats for more
development news
Structure of Headlines

8.  Crossline or Barline ‐ A one‐line headline that runs
across the column. The simplest form, it is a single
line that runs across the allotted space. If it runs
across the page ‘ it is called a streamer.
Example:
Local students join Clean drive
Structure of Headlines

9.  Boxed headline ‐ For emphasis or art’s sake, some
headlines are boxed:
a.) Full box ‐
b.) Half box‐ Campus paper catalyst for national
development
Structure of Headlines
Community involvement
Science camp theme

10. 
c.) Quarter box ‐ Local students, teachers bleed for a cause
today
Structure of Headlines

11. 
 Jump Story Headline - A jump story(a story
continued on another page) has a headline of it’s
own. This may be the same as the original headline
or it may be a word, phrase or group of words
followed by a series of dots.
Structure of Headlines

12. 
 Headlines in English often use a unique set of
grammatical rules known as Headlinese.
 Headlinese is an abbreviated writing style used
in newspaper headlines.
Headlinese

13. Do’s
 Make your headline answer as many W’s as possible.
 The headline should summarize the new story . It should
contain nothing that is not found in the story.
 Positive heads are preferable to negative ones.
Example :
School physician allays flu fear is better and
shorter than Flu epidemic not rampant in the city.
 Put a verb expressed or implied in every deck.
Do’s and Dont’s in writing
Traditional Headlines

14. 
 Omit articles like a, an and the and all forms of
verb to be (is, are , be), unless needed to make the
meaning clear
 Examples:
Reclaimed banks are causes of recurrent flood (are
before causes is not necessary) .
Barack Obama is new president
(is is necessary to make the meaning clearer.)
Do’s and Dont’s in writing
Traditional Headlines

15. 
 Use the strongest word in the first line as possible.
 The active verb is better than the passive verb in headlines.
Examples:
Local Hi‐ Y aid flood victims
But, for variations, and especially when the doer is unknown or
not prominent, the passive verb may be used.
Examples:
Food production drive intensified
RP’s lost image abroad regained
Do’s and Dont’s in writing
Traditional Headlines

16. 
 Use the present tense for past stories and infinitive form
for future stories.
Examples:
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo bats national
reconciliation.
Lantern parade to cap X’mas affairs
 Write numbers in figures or spell it them out depending
upon your needs for your unit counts.
Do’s and Dont’s in writing
Traditional Headlines

17. 
 Use the following headline styles, but be consistent once you
have adopted once
a. All caps
CHARACTER, NATIONALISM VITAL COGS IN
EDUCATION
b. Cap and lower case
Character , Nationalism Vital Cogs
in Education
c. Down style
Character , nationalism vital cogs in education.
Do’s and Dont’s in writing
Traditional Headlines

18. 
 Avoid the following kinds of headlines:
a.) Fat Head ‐ the spaces between the letters are so
crowded that there are no more space between , them
or that the spaces are so small that several words read
as one.
Examples:
BSP LAUNCHES DRIVE
What to Avoid in Writing
Headlines

19. b.) Thin Head‐ the spaces between the letters or words or the space
after the words in a line are so wide that the effect is ugly.
Example:
B S P L A U N C H E S D R I V E
c.) Label Head ‐ an incomplete headline, like the label of a product.
Example:
CHRISTMAS PARTY

20. d.) Wooden hand‐ a very weak headline that is devoid of meaning,
sometimes due to the absence of a subject or the lack of a verb.
Example:
TO HOLD EXCURSION
e.) Mandatory Head ‐ it gives a command because it begins with a
verb.
Example:
HOLD DIALOGUE WITH PRINCIPAL
f.) Screaming Head ‐ it is big and bold headline of a short and
unimportant story . A sensational head is another kind of
screaming headline.

21. 
 Don’t tell the same thing even though you use a
different word. Each succeeding deck should
contribute information.
 Don’t comment directly or indirectly. Avoid
editorializing even in headlines.
 Unless the subject is implied or has been mentioned
in the first deck ,avoid beginning a headline with a
verb.
What to Avoid in
Writing Headlines

22.  Don’t end a line with a preposition. Neither should you
separate a preposition from it’s object. Do not confuse a
hanging preposition with a two ‐word verb that ends with a
preposition.
Wrong:
Students vote for
SSG officials (“for” is a hanging preposition)
Right:
Principal bats for
moral values( “bats for” is a two word verb)
What to Avoid in
Writing Headlines

23. 
 Don’t break off abbreviations, name, and hyphenated
words.
 Avoid repeating principal words regardless of the numer
of decks.
 Aoid heads that carry a double meaning.
 Don’t coin abbreviations of your qwn. Use only those that
are common to the readers like PNRC, DepED, DCS.
 Don’t abbreviate days and months unless figures follow
as:
Mon., Jan. 23
What to Avoid in
Writing Headlines

24. 
Punctuating
Headlines
A few pointers as regards punctuation of headlines
should be observed. As a rule, headlines, just like
titles of editorials, features, and literary articles,
should not end in a period.

25. Other simple rules follow:
 Use a comma in place of conjunction and.
Self–reliance, discipline up at Baguio confab
 Two related thoughts should be separated with a semicolon . As
much as possible this should be at the end of the line if the
headline is a two-line headline or a running head.
School joins Operasyon Linis;
P.E. – CAT boys drain estero
 The dash may be used for smaller decks, but not for headlines in
large types.
 The single quotation marks, not the double quotation marks are
used in headlines
Cultural development:
‘Linggo ng Wika’ theme

26. 
Unit Counting in
Headlines (in
Letterpress Printing)
Writing headlines is not as simple and as easy as it
seems. A headline should fit the allotted space by a
system of unit counts given to each letter , figure or
space. This is done to avoid a thin head, a fat head
,or a bleeding headline (one that extends out of the
column page).

27. The corresponding unit counts are as given as follows:
 ½ unit- jiltf and all punctuations except the em dash (-----), and the question
mark(?)
 1unit – the question mark, space, all figures capital JILTF, all lower case letters
except jiltf.
 1 ½- the em dash, lower case m and w and all capital letters except capital M and W
and JILTF.
 2 units - the capital M and W
1 ½ ½ ½ 1 , 11 ½ 11 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1
C i t y S c h o o l s f e t e = 15 ½
1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1
C h i e f E x e c u t i v e= 14
Note: Unit counting in headline is used only in, Letter press Printing. In Computer
Printing, there is no need for counting units; the computer does work.

28. 
 Printer’s Direction or Specification for Headlines
Write a one line headline ,occupying 3
columns, 42 points high bodoni bold type ,cap and
lower case.
Answer:
3 – 42 –bb -clc
Printer’s Direction

29. 
Preparing Headline
Schedule
(For Letterpress Printing)
A headline schedule is a complete collection of
headline types that are particular newspaper uses.
This collection should specify the unit counts for
all heads.

30. Headlines Unit
Counts
Size/Family
Type
Columns
Osmeña High revives
comedia
12
14 ½
48 Radiant 2
Reclaimed banks cause
Of recurrent floods
21
17
36 Caslon 2
Dope upsurge
in community,
School noted
12 ½
11 ½
11 ½
30 Cheltenham 1
Food production drive
intensified
29 24 Century 2
Science journalism
caps NSTA seminar
7
9
11
7
1

31.  Headline writing must be cartloads of special skill. The
copy editor who usually writes the headlines should be
able to tell in capsule form – simply, temptingly, yet
understandably – the most complex story with words that
fit the limit of the unit counts.
To do this , he must have cartloads of special words to use
for the sake of simplicity, brevity and easy reading.
However, certain newspapers terms used in headlines are
not acceptable in formal writing or usage, nor do they carry
their literal meaning as in the case of idioms.
Headline Vocabulary