COPYREADING AND HEADLINE WRITING:

More than Just Marks and Words

“You cannot correct unless you know that there is something wrong.”

RUEL C. FERNANDEZResource Speaker

Eagle’s Eyes Ready

40 Filipino pieacekeepers are battling heavily

armed Syrian rebels who are trying to overran UN

encampment on the Golan Heights, Defense

Secretary VOLTAIRE GAzmin says yesterday.

They have high morale Gazmin told reporters,

referring to the group of Filipino peacekeepers

defending Area Position 68 of the United Nations

Disengagement Observer Force (Undof) on the

Golan Heights

gazmin said the rebels attacked Area Position 68,

about 4 kilometers from Area 69, after noon but

was repulsed by the Filipinos

Palace spokeswoman Abigail Valte said on the

government-run Radyo ng Bayan that even

without having to take the challenge thrown by

Netizens for the President and Cabinet members to

try using the MRT themselves, government officials

were cognizant of the problems hounding the MRT.

The fire fight was going on bet ween the Filipino

peacekeepers and the rebels as of 5 p.m. in Manila

gazmine said the filipinos had reported no

casualties. He praised the elite troops’ courage and

“high morale”.

A military officiasl who asked not to be identify said the filipino troops manning Area Positions 68 and 69 belonged to the Philippine Army’s elite Scout Rangers and Special Forces

Philippine Daily Inquirer, Aug. 31 2014

Shades of Green Looms Dark in the Paper

Jose M. Almario was elected Pubic Information Officer…

Your penis wonderful. I enjoyed using it last night.

He eats, shoots, and leaves.

Political orgasm

What is COPYREADING AND HEADLINE WRITING?

It is the way of improving a story and making an appropriate headline for the article.

The ROLE of Copy Fixers

Good copy fixers keep the spirit and substance of the story. He/She basically brightens and polishes the article. He makes the story better by organizing it better than when it was submitted.

Tasks of a Copy Editor

1. Read thoroughly the news or reports.

2. Think of ways to best improve the news.

3. Check and correct errors in news context, grammar, punctuations, spelling, usage, and others.

4. Present the best lead for the news.

5. Remove editorials from news and check for any libelous statements in the reports.6. Simplify words and check for any redundancy.7. Organize sequence or order of paragraphs of the news.8. Write effective headlines.

Tasks of a Copy Editor

Tasks of a Copy Editor9. Suggest font and font sizes to the

typesetter.10. Determine columns and decks of

headlines.11. Correct the copies by using copyreading symbols.

Writing Headlines

Headlines are display windows of newspapers. It is a quick source of information about the story.

Well-written headlines grab the reader's attention convey clear, concise thoughts Poorly written headlines mislead and confuse a reader

Headline / head

The headline or head is the title of a news story. While the lead summarizes the story, the headline summarizes the lead. The headline of the biggest or Number One story on page 1 of the newspaper is called a banner head.

Functions of Headlines

• To tell in capsule form what the story is all about

• To grade the news as to importance

• To make the page look attractive

Try giving this lead a headline:

Education Secretary Armin Luistro yesterday said his

agency had not abandoned its development of “God-loving

learners” as he denied having been pressured by any group

into removing the phrase “God-loving” from the DepEd’s

vision statement.

Luistro: DepEd developing God-loving learners

DepEd hones God-loving learners, says Luistro

Luistro says, Deped is honing God-loving learners

The Catholic Church has denied the sacrament of marriage to a Quezon City councilor because of his stance advocating birth control.

Pro-birth control councilor

denied of marriage rites

Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

Make the head answer as many W’s as possible

Scribes win in Presscon (?)

Gulayan sa Paaralan, sinuportahan (?)

Cat’nes places 2nd

overall in reg’l

confab

Gulayan sa Paaralan, sinuportahan ng PTA

Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

Write numbers in figures or spell them out

Eighty percent of del Pilarians approve CyberEd

(x)

80% of del Pilarians approve CyberEd

9 golds up for grabs in Division Athletic Meet (x)

Nine golds up

for grabs in Division Athletic Meet

Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

Positive heads are preferable to negative ones.

Hog cholera not in Bulacan (x)

ARMM polls,

hindi tuloy

Bulacan gov’t allays

hog cholera fear

ARMM polls,

ipinagpaliban

Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

Be specific.

Put a verb expressed or implied. The Seminar on

English proficiency

(x)

Mentors join seminar on English proficiency (improve)

Mentors join seminar on English proficiency

English Olympics

up in October

Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

Omit articles ( a, an, the).

Do not use all caps. The trend is down style ( lower case except for first word and proper nouns) and flush left

THE ENROLMENT

DIPS (x)

The Kids to Receive Measles, Polio, Rubella shots (x)

Kids to receive measles,

polio, rubella shots

Enrolment dips by 2.5 %

Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

The active verb is preferable than the passive, but when the doer is not prominent, use the passive head .

Enrile wants new book published only after death

Overseas job seekers warned vs Web offers

Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

Use the present tense for past stories; the infinitive for future stories.

Ukraine seeks to join

Nato to counter Russia

Ukraine to join Nato

to counter Russia

Don’t’s in Headline Writing

Avoid label, wooden and mandatory heads.

Avoid editorializing .

Journalism training (X) Join Journalism training(X) SPAs perk up skills in division journalism

training

Kind Principal bats for moral values (X)

SPA training, a success (X)

Don’t’s in Headline Writing

Don’t end a line with a preposition, but don’t confuse a hanging prep. with a two-word verb.

RP sweeps Asian titles in Petron Asian Karting Open

RP sweeps Asian titles in Petron Asian Karting Open

• Guest Speaker bats for moral values

Don’t’s in Headline Writing

Don’t break off words, verb phrase, preposition and object

School Choir to per- form in NAMCYA in Nov. (x)

Choir to perform in NAMCYA in November

Don’t’s in Headline Writing

Don’t abbreviate months/ days unless figures follow.

SG election slated

in October

SG election slated on Oct. 31

Punctuating Headlines

Use a comma in place of the conjunction and.

In a two-line head, separate two independent clauses with a semi-colon (;)

Palace apologizes for sorry state of MRT,

shuns ‘rush hour ride’ challenge

Ebola outbreak spreads to Senegal; riots break out in Guinea

Punctuating Headlines

In using direct quotation as head, use dash, colon, and comma instead of the traditional quotation marks.

SC didn’t ask for e-court funding–Palace

Luistro: DepEd developing God-loving learners

No worries, says MILF on Bangsamoro Law delay

MILF says, no worries on Bangsamoro Law delay

Vocabulary HeadlineWhat do the words in bold mean?

Farmers group scores gov’t on unemployment

Director Ramirez keynotes Reg’l Journalism confab

Transport groups buck high oil price hike

Literary contests cap Buwan ng Wika

Scribes in libel row

Vocabulary Headline Replace the italicized words

with apt head lingo

Campaign against pornographic

literature going on

Drive vs smut on

Math winners announcedMath winners bared

Vocabulary Headline

Replace the italicized words with apt head lingo

Campus writers will join regional journalism conference

Scribes to join reg’l presscon

Vocabulary Headline

Replace the italicized words with apt head lingo

Principal approves Student Gov’t election

Principal okays Student Gov’t polls

Vocabulary Headline

Replace the italicized words with apt head lingo

First year student wins first place in poster making contest

Freshman cops gold in poster making tilt

Pagsulat ng Ulo ng BalitaAno ang mali sa ss. na ulo ng balita? Iwasto.

Mag-aaral, kahanga-hangang nagwagi

REG’L SCHOOLS PRESSCON Editor ng Malaya, nanguna sa pagsulat ng balita

Aklasan sa DAR, nalutas nagsipag-aklas, bumalik

Aklasan sa DAR, nalutas; manggagawa, bumalik

Mechanics of Headline WritingA Technical Instruction or The Printer’s Directions

 

3-30 Arial Black-Inverted Pyramidbody text: Arial Narrow

Meaning:

The first number means that the headline will run across three columns of the page.The second number stands for the font size to be used.AB (Arial Black) indicates the font type.Inverted Pyramid is the headline pattern to be used.The two lines below means that make a two-line headline.

Putin ready to invade Ukraine; Kiev warns a war

Counting the Headline

1.All small letters except jilft and mw are counted as 1.

2. Small letters jilft are counted as ½.

3. Small letters m and w are counted as 1½.

4. All capital letters except MW are counted as 1½.

5. Capital letters M and W are counted as 2.

6. Capital letters J, I, L, F, T are counted as 1.

8. All punctuation marks except the –?, $ and % are counted as ½.

9. Dash, question mark, dollar and percent sign are counted as 1.

10. All figures, except 1, and spaces are counted as 1.

11. Number 1 is counted as ½.

 

Putin ready to invade Ukraine; Kiev warns a war (43 units)

Pnoy urges Senate to hasten PDAF scam probe(44 ½ units)

Headline Patterns Crossline or barline – a single line of headline

running over two or more columns

Indonesian turns forest into ‘school of life’ 

Ombudsman, kulang sa abogado

Dropline – two or three lines of headline, usually of the same length and are arranged diagonally

  Dole Philippines donates

armchairs to Sarangani

Headline Patterns  Flush Left – two or more headlines are aligned at the left

edge of the column 

Malacañang muling nagpaalalasa OFWs sa pagdadala ng droga

 

PH cagers take Croatiato overtime before losing

Headline Patterns Hanging Indention – usually three or more lines of headline, the first

set flushed to both margins and the succeeding lines are indented several spaces from the left margin, thus hanging as if from the first

Military ready to step in if anti-gov’t protest turn violent

Inverted Pyramid – two or more lines of headline with the first line flushed to both margin and the succeeding lines getting shorter and centered

Pinoys escape massacre in another UN camp

 

Headline Patterns Flush Right – two or more lines of headline are aligned at

the right edge of the column

Ordinansa sa riding in tandem, ipatutupad na sa Manila  Flushline or full line – consists of two or more lines of the

same length

FDA: Don’t buythese eye drops

 

Other Kinds of Headline  1. Streamer – striking bold-faced head extending across

the top of the page  2. Umbrella – a streamer that is placed at the very top of

the page above the nameplate of the newspaper

  3. Binder – a streamer at the top of an inside page  4. Boxed head – the headline is boxed either for

prominence of to avoid tombstoning  

Other Kinds of Headline 

5. Jump head (run-over head) – headline of a news story, which is cut and continued on the inside page; it

is followed by the word from page – or the like  6. Subhead – a short title of a portion of news story to

break the monotony of gray text; set in boldface and occupies more than half the column width

  7. Tagline, kicker or teaser – a short single line placed

above the main head, may be of smaller type, underlined and set flush left or centered

  8. Hammer – if the tagline or kicker is bigger than the

headline

 

Umbrella headline

Banner head, Streamer

4-line,1-column head

2-line,4-column head

3-column crossline

Headsareflushedleftlike this

The writer whose work cannot be improved by a constructive editor does not exist.