Headline writing is such an important part of the journalism process that some newspapers hire creative folks for the sole purpose of crafting killer headlines. It's the only way in which a journalist can win a major award by writing less than a sentence. In most newsrooms, the task falls on the shoulders of copy editors or page designers, with other editors contributing their demands or suggestions on especially important stories. Sometimes reporters will suggest headlines for their own stories, but this is generally seen as not being the story writer's job.
Outside the newsroom, headlines have become increasingly important in the online world. Blogs are a dime a dozen, and a Technorati or similar search for a keyword will usually pull up a long list of blog posts from which the reader can select. Since blog aggregates use the headline that the blog author originally posts, it's up to the blog author to write a punchy headline that will stand out from the rest.
First, a tutorial on the types of headlines:
- Banner heds: Spanning all six columns across the top of the page.
- Deck heds: Usually a good complement to a banner headline, providing a second deck of smaller (at least half the point size, usually more) text that explains the story in further detail.
- Subheds: A secondary headline providing further detail about the story, in various sizes and column widths in relation to the main hed. Also one-column short headlines within the text of a story that break up the gray space.
- Hammer heds: Two or three punchy words (sometimes a pun) usually directly above a deck hed; can be all caps.
- Kicker: A catchy, short headline usually above a photo that draws readers into the story package, sometimes seen in all capital letters or in italic font.
- Summary graf: A short, paragraph-style headline sometimes ending in a period under a main hed and in text that's larger in point size than the story.
- Jumphed: Some papers use additional headlines when the story jumps to another page; these serve to make the jump easy to find and remind the reader what was going on in the story. Ideally, the jumphed should not mirror the main headline on the originating page, but should have fresh tidbits that perhaps reflect the content of text on the jump page.
- Heavy hed: Reserved for the biggest stories, the heavy hed is a dark, thick font, often all caps, that needs little explanation and is intended to scream at readers from a newspaper box. Examples: "Terrorists strike," "It's war," "Dow plummets," "Not guilty!"
- First-day hed: The term for a headline on a story that is being reported for the first time in that publication.
- Second-day hed: This type of headline would be put on a follow-up story, taking care not to repeat the details introduced in the first day hed. For example, the first-day hed might be "Two killed in gang shooting." A confusing lede on the next-day folo might lead a headline writer to write something similar on the second-day, when it should read something like, "Victims identified in gang shooting."
Hard-news heds
When crafting headlines for hard-news stories, creativity isn't so important as accuracy and the ability to pull the hook out of the story and weave it into the hed. After all, it's in poor taste to slap a funny or pun headline on a story about a plane crashing and killing everyone on board, or ebola sweeping through a village. So what's the clincher, the shocking fact, the breaking news, the super scoop to highlight in the hed to pull in the reader?
Let's pull an example from an Associated Press story and explore potential headlines:
- "Hamas militants on Monday claimed responsibility for a shooting that wounded an Israeli civilian near the border with the Gaza Strip — the first serious violence after formation of the new Palestinian unity government.
The shooting dealt an embarrassing blow to Hamas political leaders, who have been trying to persuade the international community to recognize their coalition with the rival Fatah movement and lift a year-old economic boycott against the Palestinian government. It also exposed divisions within the Islamic militant group.
Israel said the attack proved the coalition was flouting international demands to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist, and accept past peace accords."
- Hamas shooting shakes up new unity government
Wounding of Israeli civilian a blow to Palestinian leadership
Violence threatens aims of Hamas-Fatah union
- Noting eye-catching details, which in hard-news stories can include violence, scandal, blazes, danger, political upheaval, corruption, etc.
- Choosing words to convey the drama of the situation -- in the above examples, we see "shakes up," "a blow," "threatens."
- Using a headline that lets the reader look foward and imagine what's up next. In the above headlines, the reader wonders if this incident will be enough to damage the newly formed unity government and will read on to learn more.