1.Headline (or hed)

What is specific about the language of newspaper headlines? How do they usually call this language?

The head of a story, in newsman's jargon.

A headline is text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.

Headlines are usually written in bold and in a much larger size than the article text. Front page headlines are often in upper case so that they can be easily read by the passing potential customer. Headlines in other parts of the paper are more commonly in sentence case though title case is often used in the USA.

Headline conventions include normally using present tense, omitting forms of the verb "to be" in certain contexts, and removing short articles like "a" and "the". Most newspapers feature a very large headline on their front page, dramatically describing the biggest news of the day. A headline may also be followed by a smaller secondary headline which gives a bit more information or a subhead (also called a deck or nutgraf in some areas). Words chosen for headlines are often short, giving rise to headlinese.

According to Russ Willison Headlines are the "barb on the hook."

Headlinese is nonconversational language used in newspaper headlines.

Because of space constraints, a copy editing requirement is the ability to write headlines in a compressed telegraphic style. Headlines often omit forms of the verb "to be" and other grammatical articles, or use verbs' infinitives for the future tense, as in "Dow Jones board to vote on News Corp offer". Virtually no finite verbs are used except in the simple present tense.

Conjunctions are also often excluded from headlines. In the United States, for example, the word "and" is often replaced by a comma, as in "Bush, Blair laugh off microphone mishap".

Headlines feature many contractions and abbreviations: in the USA, for example, Pols (for "politicians"), Dems (for "Democrats"), GOP (for the Republican Party, from the nickname "Grand Old Party"); in the UK, Lib Dems (for the Liberal Democrats), Tories (for the Conservative Party). Some periodicals have their own distinctive headline styles, especially Variety and its entertainment-jargon headlines such as "Sticks nix hick pix".

The vocabulary and grammatical constructs used in headlines have become so culturally ingrained that they are often encountered even where there are no space constraints, for example in internet news agencies' headlines.

Production of headlines within the editorial environment

Read the text and say: Who are headlines usually produced by?

Headlines are generally written by copy editors, but may also be written by the writer, the page layout designer or a news editor or managing editor.

The film The Shipping News has an illustrative exchange between the protagonist, who is learning how to write for a local newspaper, and his publisher:

Publisher: It's finding the center of your story, the beating heart of it, that's what makes a reporter. You have to start by making up some headlines. You know: short, punchy, dramatic headlines. Now, have a look, [pointing at dark clouds gathering in the sky over the ocean] what do you see? Tell me the headline.

Protagonist: HORIZON FILLS WITH DARK CLOUDS?

Publisher: IMMINENT STORM THREATENS VILLAGE.

Protagonist: But what if no storm comes?

Publisher: VILLAGE SPARED FROM DEADLY STORM.

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.

Unusual headlines

Why do headlines sometimes have double meanings?

Occasionally, the need to keep headlines brief leads to unintentional double meanings, if not double entendres. For example, if the story is about the president of Iraq trying to acquire weapons, the headline might be IRAQI HEAD SEEKS ARMS. Or if some agricultural legislation is defeated in the United States House of Representatives, the title could read FARMER BILL DIES IN HOUSE.

WALL ST. LAYS AN EGG - Variety on Black Monday (1929)

STICKS NIX HICK PIX - Variety writing that rural moviegoers preferred urbane films (1935)

DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN - The Chicago Tribune reporting the wrong election winner (1948)

FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD - New York Daily News reporting the denial of a federal bailout (1975)

SICK TRANSIT'S GLORIOUS MONDAY - New York Daily News reporting a state transit bailout (1980)

GOTCHA! - The UK Sun on the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands War (1981)

HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR - New York Post on a local murder (1983)

HICKS NIX KNICKS IN SIX - New York Daily News on an NBA Conference Finals win by Indiana Pacers (2000)

GREAT SATAN SITS DOWN WITH THE AXIS OF EVIL - The UK The Times on US-Iran talks (2007)

SUPER CALEY GO BALLISTIC CELTIC ARE ATROCIOUS - Sun on Inverness Caledonian Thistle beating Celtic in the Scottish Cup

FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER - Sun on Lea La Salle's claim that the comedian had eaten her pet in a sandwich. Max Clifford later admitted that the story was a fabrication.

ICE CREAM MAN HAS ASSETS FROZEN - BBC News: An ice cream salesman has his assets frozen for suspectedly smuggling tobacco

Headlines (The Tonight Show)

Have you ever heard about the show under consideration? Is there any of the type in Russia?

"Headlines" is a segment on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno airing weekly. The segment usually airs on Monday, though at times it airs on Tuesday. It was first seen in 1987, when Jay Leno was still a guest host. Viewers submit funny newspaper headlines from all over the world.

Categories

Read the text about some funny newspaper headlines and try to formulate some important rules how not to produce such headlines:

Odd names: Weird names for restaurants or other businesses (e.g. Hu Dat) or people (Phat Ho), or names that sound like obscenities in English (e.g. Ho Bich Nga in Vancouver, Canada).

Does this make any sense? things that make little or no sense, "Homeless man put under house arrest", 'Supreme Court ponders whether innocent person can be executed".

Weddings: Wedding announcements in the papers with bizarre name combinations, i.e. "Long-Short," "Hardey-Bouyes," etc.

Typos: Words that are misspelled and thus have a new meaning, i.e. "land of milk and hiney," "Thompson's Penis a Sword" (meant Tommy Thompson's pen is a sword), "It was the incest little car" (meant "it was the nicest little car"), and "Martian Luther King Day".

Mispositioned photos: Pictures, taken by professional photographers, with bizarre positioning. Examples include people with things positioned behind them to look like their noses are growing, and a man placed in front of a tree in the distance, thus making it look like he has an afro. Strange drawings also turn up - one of these was an advertisement for a production of The Nutcracker which made it unintentionally seem as if the Nutcracker were about to sexually mount the prima ballerina "doggie style" or photos that seem not to have anything to do with the subject (photo of cheerleaders jumping for article on firefighters), or maps that have wrong places named, such as Boston, Massachusetts located in India. One particular example showed a "Suspect Sought in Robbery" next to a picture of Jay himself taken while he was performing at a comedy club. (Jay: I got a good look at him officer. He was very handsome.)

Mispositioned ads: Advertisements that have been placed next to each other that do not take into account what will be suggested when placed together. An example of this includes two separate advertisements that make it appear than a man has a tire growing out of his head.

Photos with inappropriate objects: Items sometimes appear in photos which do not belong. Examples include a picture of Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck with a black hand on Ben's shoulder and a picture of Jennifer Connelly wearing a shirt with two buttons positioned in a way that, in black-and-white, look like nipples.

Models used in multiple ads: A photo of a model or models sometimes appear in multiple advertisements for different products or services in the same publication.

Strange products: Either obvious rip-offs ($100 for a gymnastic stick, "send in $100 to learn how to make money at home"-type ads), strange and useless innovations (a marshmallow spinner for campfires), or normal products with odd descriptions (kosher Easter candy).

Menu items: Sometimes, restaurants have items on their menu with strange, sometimes unwittingly obscene names, i.e. "Poo Thong", "Cream of Sum Yung Gui" or "Fuk Kin Fried Rice." Often the menus will be completely mistranslated from a foreign language, making the results sound humorous (i.e. "Consumny gaw, or undercookel meats may increase your risk of foodbone illness, especially if you have cestain medical conditions").

Clothing for Animals: Described by Jay as something he "hates," shows items, usually from a catalog, meant to be worn by a pet, usually a cat or a dog. Jay usually says that they are ridiculous because the animal would refuse to wear the item, and the owner would likely be attacked if he or she attempted to dress the pet. Jay usually says "Your dog(or cat) is not going to wear that!"

Dumb criminals: Often described by Jay as something he "loves," they tell stories of criminals who make "dumb" mistakes, i.e. criminals who showed ID when asked, held their hands in front of their faces to disguise themselves, and showing their picture on America's Most Wanted for ID. On several occasions, there have been stupid victims. A man reported his bicycle stolen. When the police got there, they found what appeared to be a bicycle chain combination near the bicycle rack. When asked, the victim claimed he left the combination there in case he forgot it. Another stupid victim, when told that the man who robbed him had been arrested for burglary, complained that he had not wanted the man arrested for burglary, but for breaking in and stealing his stuff.

Police blotter: Police radio transcripts and local police logs with strange items ('a woman calling in to report that she had a stupid husband' and 'chicken at large'), possible typos (donuts found loitering in a field), or misunderstanding the problem (man mistakes a gun for a birthday cake, boy calling Help which was the name for his cat). Jay usually reads this in a stern tone of voice, like that of a police officer.

Dual meanings: Headlines with phrasing that gives a different meaning than what the author intended, i.e. "Fat kids make huge impact" or "Condom found in bag of nuts."

What Do You Think?: Newspapers often ask people about controversial issues. Non sequitur responses are sent in, i.e. a college student asked about the gay marriage debate replies that he hasn't thought about it because he just woke up, and a man with a cigarette hanging from his mouth disapproves of cell phone towers because they "give you cancer." One man responds to the question "whether the high price of gas would ruin their vacation" with "No, because I'm going to jail." Another woman was asked what she was doing to protect the environment. She replied, "Someone stole my car, so now I don't drive."