Headline Writing

REGIONAL TRAINING OF TRAINERS ON CAMPUS
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JOURNALISM
HEADLINE
WRITING
DAVE C. PRODIGO
Koronadal City Division
Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

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JOURNALISM
OBJECTIVES
• Discuss headline writing
• Understand guidelines in writing headlines
• Write a headline from an edited copy

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JOURNALISM
HEADLINE
• An assemblage of words written in bigger,
bolder letters than the usual page text at the
beginning of the news
• Headlines are windows of the newspaper as
they serve as the quick source of information
for busy readers.
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JOURNALISM
FUNCTIONS OF HEADLINE
• to attract the readers
• to tell the story (in a summary)
• to index/grade the news (big type for important news;
small type for less important)

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JOURNALISM
QUALITIES OF A GOOD HEADLINE
1. It attracts the reader’s eye and directs its attention

to the story beneath it.
2. It is concisely constructed to save space. articles
and other unnecessary words are omitted.
3. It must be positive and active.

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JOURNALISM
THINGS TO REMEMBER IN HEADLINES
1. The headline presents the news in a CAPSULE.
2. The headline must contain the most important, the most
intriguing, the most unusual fact of the story.
3. The headline must be so constructed as to catch the
reader’s attention and make him read the story.
4. The headline is based on the lead.
5. The headline makes use of special vocabulary which is
not suitable for ordinary communication situations.

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JOURNALISM
GUIDELINES FOR WRITING HEADLINES
• First, read the story for general meaning.
• Clues to the headline are usually in the lead.
What happened?
Who did what?
How did it happen?
• Use the shortest words possible.
Examples:
cop – policeman up - increase
nab – arrest thief - robber
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JOURNALISM
Headline Vocabulary
accord - agreement dip - go down
allay - to calm Ex - former
anew - again grill - investigate
assail - to attack with arguments hit - attack
cite - mention; enumerate slay/kill -murdered
crown - championship hike - increase

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JOURNALISM
Headline Vocabulary
kin - family bare - reveal, expose
ratify - approve; confirm rift - disagreement
nab - arrest okay/ok - approve
sked - schedule foil - thwart, rejected
vow - pledge rule - decide
solon - lawmaker, representative

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JOURNALISM
Headline Vocabulary

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JOURNALISM
Headline Vocabulary
1. US hits Iraq’s nuclear test (attacks)

2. DepEd acts to nip tuition hike (to stop;increase)
3. Arroyo’s nod expected (approval)
4. Pimentel prods GMA to resign (urges)
5. 20 donors boost fund drive (increase)
6. Enrollment dips (decreases)
7. Faculty club beefed up (strengthened)

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JOURNALISM
• Use the historical present tense if the verb is in the

active voice.
Wrong: PH captured key Maute base in Marawi
Correct: PH captures key Maute base in Marawi
• Omit the helping verb if the verb is in the passive voice.
Only the past participle is retained.
Wrong: 2 were feared dead after electric post falls in QC
Correct: 2 feared dead after electric post falls in QC
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JOURNALISM
• Follow the S-V-O pattern.

- Subject-Verb-Object pattern (English)

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JOURNALISM
Subject + action verb + object
Posibleng bagyo binabantayan ng PAGASA
Isang low pressure area (LPA) na posibleng maging

bagyo ang tinututukan ngayon ng state weather bureau.
Huling namataan ng Philippine Atmospheric,
Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration
(PAGASA) ang sama ng panahon sa 700 kilometro silangan
ng Hilagang Mindanao kaninang alas-4 ng umaga.

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JOURNALISM
Lawmaker files bill
A lawmaker recently filed a bill proposing a “no work, no pay”
policy for members of the House of Representatives who fail to attend
sessions.
Navotas Rep. Tobias “Toby” Tiangco proposed House Bill (HB) 412 otherwise
known as “An act providing for a ‘No work, No pay’ policy for members of Congress”
as he sought to encourage quorum in the 17thCongress. His bill states that “all
members of the Congress shall attend, participate and take part in the regular and
special sessions of the Congress.”

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JOURNALISM
Lawmaker files bill
Solon proposes ‘no work, no pay’ policy
Solon proposes ‘no work, no pay’ policy for lawmakers
A lawmaker recently filed a bill proposing a “no work, no pay” policy for
members of the House of Representatives who fail to attend sessions.
Navotas Rep. Tobias “Toby” Tiangco proposed House Bill (HB) 412 otherwise
known as “An act providing for a ‘No work, No pay’ policy for members of
Congress” as he sought to encourage quorum in the 17thCongress. His bill states
that “all members of the Congress shall attend, participate and take part in the
regular and special sessions of the Congress.”
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JOURNALISM
Duterte forms task force on media violence
• MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte

has formed a task force that will ensure a safe
environment for members of the media amid
growing concerns over the harassment of
journalists who have reported critically of the
administration.
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JOURNALISM
• Use the infinitive for future events.
Wrong: Dumaguete will host NSPC 2018
Correct: Dumaguete to host NSPC 2018
• Do not use a period at the end of the headline.
• Omit articles (a, an, the).

Wrong: A 4.1-magnitude quake hits Eastern Samar
Correct: 4.1-magnitude quake hits Eatern Samar
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JOURNALISM
• Use a comma instead of “and” in writing headlines.
Jinggoy walks, says Bong next
• Use semicolon to separate sentences.
Bolts crush Aces; Hotshots hold three-game slide
• Use punctuation marks sparingly.

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JOURNALISM
• Use single quotes (‘) in headlines instead of double quotes
(“).
‘Habal-habal’ ride of Orbos a wake-up call for Tugade
• Always give the source of a quote. To use direct quotation
as head, use any of the following forms:
a. Dash NCIP budget slash to hurt ‘lumad’ - Bukidnon gov
b. Colon Bukidnon gov: NCIP budget slash to hurt ‘lumad’
c. Narrative form NCIP budget slash to hurt ‘lumad,’ says Bukidnon gov

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JOURNALISM
• Use the down-style – only the first word and proper

nouns are capitalized, unless otherwise indicated.
PDEA seeks more drug rehab centers
• Use only widely known abbreviations.
DILG installs Yap as new governor of Southern Leyte

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JOURNALISM
• Don’t use names unless the person is well known, use
common nouns instead.
Wrong: Fernandez slain in Pangasinan gun battle
Correct: Suspected cop killer slain in Pangasinan gun battle
• Use specific terms instead of generalities
Example: Cebu police rescue toddler from abuse
Better: Cebu police rescue toddler from cybersex

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JOURNALISM
• Just report the facts; do not editorialize.

Wrong: Amazing natural farm atop Underground River
Correct: Natural farm atop Underground River
• Be positive. Don’t use negatives in headlines. They

weaken the stories.
Wrong: PTA meeting won’t be held
Better: PTA meeting cancelled

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JOURNALISM
• Never use the word “may.” It denotes the uncertain

element of the story.
e.g. Jinggoy out on bail; Bong may be next
How about this?

Under federalism, Duterte may stay till 2025
A federalism advocate on Thursday raised the possibility of extending
President Duterte’s term to 2025 while the country adjusts to the shift to a federal
parliamentary government.
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JOURNALISM
Under federalism, Duterte may stay till 2025
Under federalism
Duterte may stay till 2025, says advocate

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JOURNALISM
• Use numbers only if important. Write numbers in
figures. B-billion and M-million
LRT group wants P7.5B from gov’t
10.5M adult Filipinos jobless in 2nd quarter
• The first line of two-line or three-line headline should

not end with a preposition, conjunction, articles or any
form of the verb to be, unless the preposition goes with
the verb, as in the word call up.

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JOURNALISM
RULES IN ACRONYM
1. Four-letter acronym and below, all letters should be
capitalized like WHO, UN, MILF
2. For more than four-letter acronym, only the first letter is
capitalized like in Asean, Unicef
3. For syllabic acronym, the first letter of each syllable of the
words should be capitalized like DepEd, GenSan,
SoCCSKSarGen
4. If the acronym lacks enough vowels, all the letters should
be capitalized like ILSNHSMD

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JOURNALISM
STEPS IN HEADLINE WRITING
• Make sure you understand what the story is about.
• Find the action verb and the most important noun, which tell what is
happening in the story.
• Sum up the story with key words; build this summary around the verb
you have chosen.
• Cast the summary in a sentence.
• Shorten the sentence by putting it in headline form.
• Once the first draft of the headline is written, find synonyms for key
words in the lead and begin substitution as necessary.

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JOURNALISM
DECK
• This is the number of lines your headline will have
Example:
Comelec to deal directly with telcos
(1 deck)
10 more cops wanted

for Maguindanao massacre
(2 decks)
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JOURNALISM
SLUG
•SLUG IS THE STORY’S NAME
…It is used for the purposes of identification and
record keeping. It is usually written in a single word.
E.g. Weather - for a weather story
Council - for a council meeting
Drowning - for a story about death by
drowning
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JOURNALISM
HEADLINE TERMS
• Columns
- Vertical strips of text.
- The thin white spaces between columns are
called gutters.

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JOURNALISM
HEADLINE TERMS
• Headline count
- Count or length in units of each line.
e.g. Jinggoy Estrada camp posts bail
Jinggoy, pinayagang magpyansa
UNIT COUNTS & HEADLINE SCHEDULE.docx

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JOURNALISM
HEADLINE TERMS
• Headline Schedule
- Chart that allows one to translate a headline
order into a specific count. It tells how many
counts of a given point size can fit into a given
column width.
UNIT COUNTS & HEADLINE SCHEDULE.docx

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JOURNALISM
HEADLINE TERMS
• Headline Order
- Refers to request for a given size of headline.
- Three-number sequence that tells
1. how many columns a headline should cover,
2. what point size it should be, and
3. how many lines it should fill. Columns–Font Size–Lines
e.g. 6-42-1: six columns wide, 42-point type size, one line).

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JOURNALISM
COPYREADING AND HEADLINE
WRITING ACROSS ARTICLES TYPES
• Read the whole article
• Analyze and identify the type of article
• Copyread considering the rules and mechanics of the type of
article
• For news with unconventional leads, consider the secondary lead
in writing the headline
• Headline (news articles), Title (editorial and feature articles)

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JOURNALISM
- Brian Clark
Division Training for Campus Writers and School Paper
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Advisers
Break a leg!
Thank you!!!

Headline Writing

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REGIONAL TRAINING OF TRAINERS ON CAMPUS

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

1. It attracts the reader’s eye and directs its attention

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

1. US hits Iraq’s nuclear test (attacks)

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

• Use the historical present tense if the verb is in the

• Follow the S-V-O pattern.

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Isang low pressure area (LPA) na posibleng maging

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

• MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte

• Omit articles (a, an, the).

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

• Use the down-style – only the first word and proper

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

• Just report the facts; do not editorialize.

• Be positive. Don’t use negatives in headlines. They

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

• Never use the word “may.” It denotes the uncertain

How about this?

Under federalism, Duterte may stay till 2025

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

• The first line of two-line or three-line headline should

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

10 more cops wanted

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

UNIT COUNTS & HEADLINE SCHEDULE.docx

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

UNIT COUNTS & HEADLINE SCHEDULE.docx

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

Department of Education Copyreading and Headline Writing

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