Hitting the headlines
Why are headlines important? What qualities should a headline possess to attract your attention?
Read the dialog in the box.
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How to write them
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.
Journalist: HORIZON FILLS WITH DARK CLOUDS?
Publisher: IMMINENT STORM THREATENS VILLAGE.
Journalist: But what if no storm comes?
Publisher: VILLAGE SPARED FROM DEADLY STORM.
(a dialog from the film The Shipping News)
Read the headlines from the first column. Guess what sort of article could be headlined like that. Would it be a news item? A feature? What would this article be about?
Study the second column of the box. Match the headline from the right column to the gist of the story in the left column.
Airline: 3 detained in Detroit after flight |
NEW YORK (AP) — An exotic antelope has briefly tasted freedom after escaping its enclosure at a New York City zoo. The kudu, a species of African antelope, was spotted by a photographer Sunday. The photographer, Andrew Lichtenstein, tells the Daily News that the animal was sticking to an area of shrubs and trees at the zoo near where people would be walking. |
Actor sentenced to life in prison for gang rape |
Police detained and questioned three passengers at Detroit's Metropolitan Airport on Sunday after the crew of the Frontier Airlines flight from Denver reported suspicious activity on board, and two F-16 jets shadowed the flight until it landed safely, airline and federal officials said. |
Ohio woman hauls trash to mayor's office |
A bit actor was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the violent 1990 gang rape of a Southern California woman. |
Happy Feet the penguin missing in Southern Ocean |
An Ohio woman frustrated by the mix-up of the trash pick-up schedule after the Labor Day holiday decided to haul her own garbage — right into her mayor's office. |
Woman bites elderly man in "vampire" attack |
Scientists tracking Happy Feet, the wayward penguin who became a worldwide celebrity after washing up on a New Zealand beach, said Monday they had lost contact with the giant bird. |
African antelope briefly tastes freedom at US zoo |
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida woman who allegedly claimed to be a vampire has been charged with battery after violently biting a man in a wheelchair on his face and arms, police said on Friday. |
Did you have any difficulty reading and understanding the headlines? Analyze the headlines from the first column from grammatical point of view. What are the distinctive features of the headlines?
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Study the content of the box below. Learn the necessary vocabulary.
Most medium-sized or larger newspapers have separate sections (and usually separate editors and reporting staffs) for national/world news, local news, business news, sports, lifestyle (features) news, and arts/entertainment news. Larger papers may also have sections that cover state news, books, theater, science, politics, etc. As for department of newspapers, most newspapers have the following, though they are organized a little differently everywhere: Newsroom – responsible for news gathering, writing, editing and layout of pages with news content on them; usually responsible for most of the paper's Web site, too. Editorial – responsible for the editorial page of the paper, including the paper's editorial stance on issues, editorial cartoonists (if there are any on staff), and columnists Advertising – sells advertising, designs ads, generally does the initial layout of the paper, putting ads on pages and then sending them to the newsroom to be filled with news content; often the ad department is split into display advertising (like the big box ads in the paper) and classified advertising. Nowadays, there are also separate online advertising departments. Production – responsible for plating and printing the newspaper Circulation – responsible for selling and delivering the paper; circulation departments often have some people responsible for home delivery subscribers and others responsible for single-copy sales (like the papers available at newspaper boxes or in convenience stores) Information technology/services – Computer/networking support; there is often a separate IT staff that just handles newsroom systems. Marketing/promotions – Responsible for designing advertising for the newspaper and negotiating with community groups to sponsor different community events. Many newspapers also plan and put on their own events, too, such as bridal fairs or home shows. |
Reading 2
Before you read
Wikipedia gives the following definition of Yellow Journalism:
“Yellow journalism, or the yellow press, is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. By extension, the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion”.
Are there any ‘yellow’ papers you can name?