Headline

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The headline is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents.

Contents

The large type front page headline did not come into use until the late 19th century when increased competition between newspapers led to the use of attention-getting headlines.

It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a headline and should not be set in type. [1]

Headlines in English often use a set of grammatical rules known as headlinese , designed to meet stringent space requirements by, for example, leaving out forms of the verb "to be" and choosing short verbs like "eye" over longer synonyms like "consider".

Production

The New York Times uses an unusually large headline to announce the Armistice with Germany at the end of World War I. NYTimes-Page1-11-11-1918.jpg
The New York Times uses an unusually large headline to announce the Armistice with Germany at the end of World War I.

A headline's purpose is to quickly and briefly draw attention to the story. It is generally written by a copy editor, but may also be written by the writer, the page layout designer, or other editors. The most important story on the front page above the fold may have a larger headline if the story is unusually important. The New York Times 's 21 July 1969 front page stated, for example, that "MEN WALK ON MOON", with the four words in gigantic size spread from the left to right edges of the page. [2]

In the United States, headline contests are sponsored by the American Copy Editors Society, the National Federation of Press Women, and many state press associations; some contests consider created content already published, [3] others are for works written with winning in mind. [4]

Typology

Research in 1980 classified newspaper headlines into four broad categories: questions, commands, statements, and explanations. [5] Advertisers and marketers classify advertising headlines slightly differently into questions, commands, benefits, news/information, and provocation. [6]

Research

Emotionality in news articles headlines since 2000.png
Emotionality in news articles headlines since 2000 [7]
Average yearly sentiment of headlines across 47 popular news media outlets.png
Average yearly sentiment of headlines across 47 popular news media outlets [7]

A study indicates there has been a substantial increase of sentiment negativity and decrease of emotional neutrality in headlines across written popular U.S.-based news media since 2000. [8] [7]

Another study concluded that those who have gained the most experience with reading newspapers "spend most of their reading time scanning the headlines—rather than reading [all or most of] the stories". [9]

Headlines can bias readers toward a specific interpretation and readers struggle to update their memory in order to correct initial misconceptions in the cases of misleading or inappropriate headlines. [10]

One approach investigated as a potential countermeasure to online misinformation is "attaching warnings to headlines of news stories that have been disputed by third-party fact-checkers", albeit its potential problems include e.g. that false headlines that fail to get tagged are considered validated by readers. [11]

Criticism

Sensationalism, inaccuracy and misleading headlines

"Slam"

The use of "slam" in headlines has attracted criticism on the grounds that the word is overused and contributes to media sensationalism. [12] [13] The violent imagery of words like "slam", "blast", "rip", and "bash" has drawn comparison to professional wrestling, where the primary aim is to titillate audiences with a conflict-laden and largely predetermined narrative, rather than provide authentic coverage of spontaneous events. [14] Journalists who use such words are widely considered to be lazy, uncreative, and unintelligent.

Crash blossoms

"Crash blossoms" is a term used to describe headlines that have unintended ambiguous meanings, such as The Times headline "Hospitals named after sandwiches kill five". The word 'named' is typically used in headlines to mean "blamed/held accountable/named [in a lawsuit]", [15] but in this example it seems to say that the hospitals' names were related to sandwiches. The headline was subsequently changed in the electronic version of the article. [16] The term was coined in August 2009 on the Testy Copy Editors web forum [17] after the Japan Times published an article entitled "Violinist Linked to JAL Crash Blossoms" [18] (since retitled to "Violinist shirks off her tragic image"). [19]

Headlinese

Headlinese has a long history. This example is the front page of the Los Angeles Herald issue of May 29, 1916. Los Angeles Herald, Number 180, 29 May 1916 front page.jpg
Headlinese has a long history. This example is the front page of the Los Angeles Herald issue of May 29, 1916.

Headlinese is an abbreviated form of news writing style used in newspaper headlines. [20] Because space is limited, headlines are written in a compressed telegraphic style, using special syntactic conventions, [21] including:

Some periodicals have their own distinctive headline styles, such as Variety and its entertainment-jargon headlines, most famously "Sticks Nix Hick Pix".

Commonly used short words

To save space and attract attention, headlines often use extremely short words, many of which are not otherwise in common use, in unusual or idiosyncratic ways: [27] [28] [29]

  • ace (a professional, especially a member of an elite sports team, e.g. "England ace")
  • axe (to eliminate)
  • bid (to attempt)
  • blast (to heavily criticize)
  • cagers (basketball team – "cage" is an old term for indoor court) [30]
  • chop (to eliminate)
  • coffer(s) (a person or entity's financial holdings)
  • confab (a meeting)[ citation needed ]
  • eye (to consider)
  • finger (to accuse, blame)
  • fold (to shut down)
  • gambit (an attempt)
  • hail (to praise)
  • hike (to increase, raise)
  • ink (to sign a contract)
  • jibe (an insult)
  • laud (to praise)
  • lull (a pause)
  • mar (to damage, harm)
  • mull (to contemplate)
  • nab (to acquire, arrest)
  • nix (to reject)
  • parley (to discuss)
  • pen (to write)
  • probe (to investigate)
  • rap (to criticize)
  • romp (an easy victory or a sexual encounter)
  • row (an argument or disagreement)
  • rue (to lament)
  • see (to forecast)
  • slay (to murder)
  • slam (to heavily criticize)
  • slump (to decrease)
  • snub (to reject)
  • solon (to judge)
  • spat (an argument or disagreement)
  • star (a celebrity, often modified by another noun, e.g. "soap star")
  • tap (to select, choose)
  • tot (a child)
  • tout (to put forward)
  • woe (disappointment or misfortune)

Famous examples

Some famous headlines in periodicals include:

The New Republic editor Michael Kinsley began a contest to find the most boring newspaper headline. [37] According to him, no entry surpassed the one that had inspired him to create the contest: "WORTHWHILE CANADIAN INITIATIVE", [38] over a column by The New York Times' Flora Lewis. [39] In 2003, New York Magazine published a list of eleven "greatest tabloid headlines". [40]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The New York Times</i> American daily newspaper

The New York Times (NYT) is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. The New York Times covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the Times serves as one of the country's newspapers of record. As of 2023, The New York Times is the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, with 296,330 print subscribers. The Times has 8.83 million online subscribers, the most of any newspaper in the United States. The New York Times is published by The New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publisher is A. G. Sulzberger. The Times is headquartered at The New York Times Building in Midtown Manhattan.

In journalism, yellow journalism and the yellow press are American newspapers that use eye-catching headlines and sensationalized exaggerations for increased sales. This term is chiefly used in American English, whereas in the United Kingdom, the similar term tabloid journalism is more common. Other languages, e.g. Russian, sometimes have terms derived from the American term. Yellow journalism emerged in the intense battle for readers by two newspapers in New York City in 1890s. It was not common in other cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadsheet</span> Largest newspaper format

A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of 22.5 inches (57 cm). Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid–compact formats.

<i>Herald Sun</i> Australian daily tabloid

The Herald Sun is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Murdoch owned News Corp. The Herald Sun primarily serves Melbourne and the state of Victoria and shares many articles with other News Corporation daily newspapers, especially those from Australia.

<i>New York Post</i> American conservative newspaper

The New York Post is an American conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The Post also operates three online sites: NYPost.com; PageSix.com, a gossip site; and Decider.com, an entertainment site.

News style, journalistic style, or news-writing style is the prose style used for news reporting in media, such as newspapers, radio and television.

<i>Daily Mirror</i> British daily tabloid newspaper

The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply The Mirror. It had an average daily print circulation of 716,923 in December 2016, dropping to 587,803 the following year. Its Sunday sister paper is the Sunday Mirror. Unlike other major British tabloids such as The Sun and the Daily Mail, the Mirror has no separate Scottish edition; this function is performed by the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail, which incorporate certain stories from the Mirror that are of Scottish significance.

Journalese is the artificial or hyperbolic, and sometimes over-abbreviated, language regarded as characteristic of the news style used in popular media. Joe Grimm, formerly of the Detroit Free Press, likened journalese to a "stage voice": "We write journalese out of habit, sometimes from misguided training, and to sound urgent, authoritative and, well, journalistic. But it doesn't do any of that."

Michael E. Kinsley is an American political journalist and commentator. Primarily active in print media as both a writer and editor, he also became known to television audiences as a co-host on Crossfire.

<i>Newsday</i> American daily newspaper founded in 1940

Newsday is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and formerly it was "Newsday, the Long Island Newspaper". The newspaper's headquarters are located in Melville, New York.

Today was a national newspaper in the United Kingdom that was published between 1986 and 1995.

Nando was an American internet news service and Internet service provider (ISP), founded in 1993 by the publishers of The News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina. Initially it relied on access via bulletin board technology. One of the first 24-hour news websites, the Nando Times, was launched in 1994, providing edited information from major news agencies that had not then developed their own websites.

<i>Mumbai Mirror</i> Indian English-language daily newspaper

Mumbai Mirror was an English-language newspaper that was initially launched in 2005 by the Times Group as part of a ringfencing tactic to fight emerging competition in the city, mainly from Zee–Bhaskar's then joint newspaper, Daily News and Analysis. Mumbai Mirror was downsized and digitised by its owners at The Times Group on 5 December 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown.

"Sticks Nix Hick Pix" is a famous headline printed in Variety, a newspaper covering Hollywood and the entertainment industry, on July 17, 1935, over an article about the reaction of rural audiences to movies about rural life. Variety was known for its playful use of Broadway and Hollywood jargon to pack as much meaning as possible into a small headline or article; examples include "H'wood" and "biz".

OU Daily, formally known as The Oklahoma Daily News, is the independent, student-produced newspaper at the University of Oklahoma, with a circulation of 6,000. Though it maintains a connection with OU's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, the newspaper is not a part of required learning for journalism students at OU. Some classes, however, are offered at The Daily for academic credit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabloid journalism</span> Style of largely sensationalist journalism

Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as half broadsheet. The size became associated with sensationalism, and tabloid journalism replaced the earlier label of yellow journalism and scandal sheets. Not all newspapers associated with tabloid journalism are tabloid size, and not all tabloid-size newspapers engage in tabloid journalism; in particular, since around the year 2000 many broadsheet newspapers converted to the more compact tabloid format.

Libertatea is a Romanian daily newspaper and online news website covering current affairs, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. It was founded on December 22, 1989 (12:45 p.m.), by Octavian Andronic, as "the first independent newspaper of the Romanian Revolution of 1989".

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." It is named after Ian Betteridge, a British technology journalist who wrote about it in 2009, although the principle is much older. It is based on the assumption that if the publishers were confident that the answer was yes, they would have presented it as an assertion; by presenting it as a question, they are not accountable for whether it is correct or not. The adage does not apply to questions that are more open-ended than strict yes–no questions. For example, "What Should We Expect From Evolving Import-Export Policy?" is an open-ended question, whereas "Should We Expect an Embargo on Widgets?" is of closed form.

<i>Illustrated Daily News</i> 20th-century Los Angeles newspaper

The Daily News was a newspaper published in Los Angeles from 1923 to 1954. It was founded in 1923 by Cornelius Vanderbilt IV and bought by Manchester Boddy who operated it through most of its existence.

References

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  2. Wilford, John Noble (14 July 2009). "On Hand for Space History, as Superpowers Spar". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  3. "Headline Contest".
  4. A NYTimes contest to write a NYPost-style headline "After Winning N.Y. Times Contest". The New York Times . November 11, 2011.
  5. Davis & Brewer 1997, p. 56.
  6. Arens 1996, p. 285.
  7. 1 2 3 Rozado, David; Hughes, Ruth; Halberstadt, Jamin (18 October 2022). "Longitudinal analysis of sentiment and emotion in news media headlines using automated labelling with Transformer language models". PLOS ONE. 17 (10): e0276367. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1776367R. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276367 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   9578611 . PMID   36256658.
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  18. subtle_body; danbloom; Nessie3. "What's a crash blossom?". Testy Copy Editors. Retrieved 31 March 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. Masangkay, May (18 August 2009). "Violinist shirks off her tragic image". The Japan Times. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  20. Headlinese Collated definitions via www.wordnik.com
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  30. "When the Court was a Cage", Sports Illustrated
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  35. Great Satan sits down with the Axis of Evil [ dead link ]
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Works cited

Further reading