JR 1003

News Production and ReportingWeek 21: Headlines and other page furniture

JR 1003: Week 21Fitting copy - Cutting

Try to improve the copy at the same time as you cut, so always be on the lookout for repetition, verbiage, detail etc.

If the copy is much too long, cut large chunks before you start fiddling with detail.

If a news story has been properly constructed you can cut it from the end – but check first that this is so.

Always check that a cut doesn't destroy the logic and coherence of a piece (by removing the first stage of an argument or the first reference to something).

Look for titles and expressions that can be abbreviated without creating confusion.

Widows (one word or part of a word on a line) and other short lines at the ends of pars often make the easiest cuts.

Sometimes pars can rn on – but don't make them too long.

Remember that material cut from copy can come in handy in writing picture captions.

JR 1003: Week 21Fitting copy – Adding

First check that nothing has been cut (for space reasons) at an earlier stage.

Make an extra new par if this will gain a line.

Look for a long line at the end of a par and add a word or two to turn the line.

Turn common abbreviations – the US, MPs – into their long forms.

Use your ingenuity to replace short words and expressions by long ones – without making the piece seem padded.

JR 1003: Week 21Text

Fonts: Typeface (roman or gothic) of a certain size

Serif (Times New Roan, 1931; Georgia) – Roman script (as painted), moveable type

Sans-serif (Arial, Helvetica, Verdana)

Alignment. Fully justified?

UPPER CASE (hard news) lower case (features) – what’s the difference?

With bold/italic?'The trouble with shrieking type is that if a newspaper goes on bellowing at the top of his voice, it is going to be hard put to claim its readers' particular attention when it really has got something to shout about. The Sun, in what its subs would probably call a bold move, has attempted to resolve this boy crying wolf situation by setting key words in the body of the story in bold capitals.‘ (Waterhouse)

JR 1003: Week 21

Breakers: The blobHas specific uses, the main ones being:

To itemize a genuine (grammatically sound) list or catalogue

To mark a footnote

To mark an addendum to a story, such as, say, a comment from the City editor on a parliamentary finance report

To itemize a series of examples or anecdotes – the purpose here being to make it clear to the reader when the text is returning to its general drift

To refer a reader to another item in the paper

JR 1003: Week 21

JR 1003: Week 21

Breakers:Crossheads Bigger and bolder - liven up the page. 'The standard crosshead

consists of one word, usually of no more than seven or eight characters.’ (Waterhouse)

Introduced to provide relief from the eyestrain of small, blurred type – but improved typography rendered them ornamental

'Abstract nouns that relate to human behaviour (Sorrow, Theft, Attack) are better than abstract nouns that don't (Role, Magic, Nights) and infintely better than most concrete nouns (Table, Coach, Lamp).‘ (Waterhouse)

They don’t tempt – they help break up monotony

JR 1003: Week 21

JR 1003: Week 21

Breakers: Sideheads

The paragraph that follows is also set flush left. The sidehead functions as a mini-headline and is generally used to start a new section. Can be used interchangably with crosshead, but this is unhelpful – you can see sideheads and crossheads perform different functions.

JR 1003: Week 21

Breakers: Pull quotes

Taken from text, set bigger and bolder than the body copy and displayed on the page as a taster for the story. They are not placed between paragraphs but dropped into the text so that the reader reads across them... They are often edited – shortened and simplified – but it is essential that their meaning should not be changed.'

JR 1003: Week 21

Breakers: Drop caps

Large capitalised letters used to start a story.

JR 1003: Week 21

Breakers: Subdecks and Standfirsts

An introductory paragraph in an article, printed in larger or bolder type or in capitals, which summarizes the article

'As with the feature headline and standfirst...having a subsidiary headline to explain and amplify makes it possible for the main headline to be more oblique, less explicit.’ (Evans)

JR 1003: Week 21Picture captionsA picture caption has two functions:

It identifies key elements in the picture It is a side door into the story

'Just as captions shouldn't contradict pictures so they shouldn't irritatingly tell you what you can see for yourself. Instead, they should answer the questions you would ask.'

'The first element in a caption is often a mini-headline, or kicker... A colon (or sometimes three dots) then leads on to the information part of the caption.'

'headline phrases used elsewhere on the page can't be repeated in the caption.'

'Captions have their own cliches: people 'share' jokes when two or more of them are snapped smiling at each other; they're described as 'receiving' or 'being awarded' medals and certificates when they're clearly posing after getting them; they 'find time to relax' when they're sitting in an armchair. Avoid these formulas where possible.’ (Waterhouse)

JR 1003: Week 21

Task

Look at the John Terry affair PDF in last week's folder in u-link. Think about all the design conventions we've just looked at, and consider how they have been used in practice.

You have 15 minutes

JR 1003: Week 21Writing good headlines – some generalities

'Good headlines are written in vigorous, conversational, idiomatic language. Good headlines should be capable of being read aloud – which the mind does subconsciously.' Arthur Christiansen (former editor Daily Express)

Unlike features headlines, hard news headlines must never tempt. 'The distinction of the hard news headline is that it always gives information. How to give the crucial information quickly and intelligibly within the confines of a column is the major skill of news-headline writing.'

(from Evans)

Headline cliches: 'Some short words, such as axe for cancel or sack, quit for leave or resign, vow for promise, slam for criticise, shun for avoid, are headline-writers' cliches. Like all cliches they can be useful at times – but don't become dependent on them. Try to write headlines in current, colloquial English – how people actually speak – rather than tabloid jargon.'

'News headlines have a double function: they attract the reader's attention and they give the gist of the story. Whereas a feature headline may intrigue, a news headline is explicit: it tells the reader what they are going to get.’

(from Winford-Hicks)

 

JR 1003: Week 21Writing good headlines – some guidance

An uncluttered single thoughtWhich is specificExpressed with a strong verbIn the active voiceIn short, simple words

Verbs are crucial, and should always be active and strong.

There is rarely any room for adjectives.

The 'where' of a news story should almost always be omitted, unless absolutely essential. True for local and national papers – but in practice?

Abuse of catchwords – don't use more than one at a time

Punctuation: much less, and quotes revert to single. No full stops.

Quotes distance the publication from the opinion expressed.

Don’t omit the subject unless your headline is a command (or parody).

JR 1003: Week 21Writing good headlines – two strategies

'The headline writer must think hard on what single element in the story it is which makes it new, different, and worth its space in the paper. To make this judgement text editors need to know the background to the news item they are editing: if it is a developing story they must be fully aware of the previous developments and how other newspapers assessed the news point at their publication time.’ (Evans)

'the first thing to do as you read the text is to note separately the sentence summing up the news and then edit it for a headline; a headline sculpted from a sentence should have a better chance of retaining some grammatical integrity and intelligibility.’

(from Evans)

Keywords – seek out strong terms in the story, and use them as the frame around which you build your headline.

Keyword Variation: 'An important convention in headline writing is that key words used in one place cannot be repeated in another. With both the double-decker headline and the headline-plus-standfirst subs have to use their ingenuity to avoid repetition.'

JR 1003: Week 21Puns – good and bad

JR 1003: Week 21

TaskUse the sentence method to come up with a headline for this story:A 64 year-old who was injured while trying to stop a theft said that his own fear of being arrested stopped him using force.

Ronald Rebeiro, 64, of Hollywood Gardens, Hayes, was thrown down an escalator in WHSmith's on Thursday in Uxbridge High Street, as he stepped in to try and stop an 81 year old woman being mugged of her handbag.

The woman had been followed by a girl in her early 20s into the Post Office who grabbed her cash from her, causing a melee.

Mr Rebeiro attempted to step in and make a citizen's arrest, but found himself being flung down the escalator and landing up in hospital with head injuries.

Mr Rebeiro, who has since been released from hospital, told the Gazette: "If I wanted to I could have used force and restrained her, but what stopped me was thinking that then I would be the one getting arrested.

"It makes me angry, the situation made me think of the businessman in High Wycombe who was sent to jail for attacking a burglar in his home.

"The location is different, but the essence is still the same, the law is nonsense, it was that which made me hesitate."

Police attended the scene and are studying CCTV and an investigation is underway.

They have issued a description of the suspect, who is a white female, aged 20-22, five foot five and of slim build, with shoulder length dark hair.

She was wearing a black jacket and black trousers and is believed to have been with a female accomplice.

JR 1003: Week 21Task

Use the keyword method to come up with a headline for this story:

A TEENAGER has been locked up after he chopped off half of a man's finger with a meat cleaver.

Otis Dowling was on bail at the time for hitting another man on the head with a hammer.

At Nottingham Crown Court, Dowling, 19, of Hanslope Crescent, Bilborough, was sentenced to seven years in custody for the two offences.

The victim of the meat cleaver attack has forgiven him and was in court to support him.

But Judge Michael Stokes, QC, said they were grave offences. "It appears on the first occasion the victim had done nothing at all and did not even see it [the hammer] coming," he said.

"On the second occasion you had a meat cleaver which was aimed at his head. He put up his hand, which protected his head from the full force of your blow, but effectively amputated the lower part of his little finger.

"He is never going to forget, even if he has forgiven."

Dowling attacked his first victim with the hammer for no reason after they shared a beer at a pub in Strelley in August 2008.

The man had no chance to defend himself and needed hospital treatment for compression-shaped injuries and cuts. In court Dowling admitted wounding and was bailed for reports..

Dowling, who admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and possessing an offensive weapon in relation to the cleaver offence, has a past conviction for battery after he hit a woman twice with an iron bar.

JR 1003: Week 21

Bibliography

Hicks, Wynford and Holmes, Tom, Subediting for Journalists, Routledge, 2002. Chapters 3 and 4, pp19-45.Evans, Harold, Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers, Pimlico, 2000.Waterhouse, Keith, On Newspaper Style, Penguin, 1989