The light side of a dark story
Just as the penal code includes offenses that wobble between misdemeanor and felony, there are wobbler news stories that can take lighter headlines depending on the details and outcomes.
Say a 5-year-old steals a car. Sounds pretty dangerous, right? The kid goes racing through town taking out mailboxes and darting through a carwash as police pursue with sirens blaring. Oh, and it's then revealed that the kid's dad is a drag racer. Sounds pretty funny, right? Yes, it was shocking that keys were left in the ignition and no one was watching the kid. Yes, it was a dangerous chase and somebody could have been killed by the lil' speed demon. But let's say nobody was killed. Let's say that the kid wasn't even hurt, but suddenly came to a stop after figuring out what the brake pedal was.
Most of your readers are going to be drawn to this story because of the humorous elements. But since there is still a degree of seriousness to the situation, your headline can strike a balance on the wobbler story. Example of a main hed and deck hed:
- Drag racer's 5-year-old goes on demolition derby
- Always use active verbs. Instead of "Man robbed store," it's "Man robs store."
- Avoid alphabet soup. Don't use unfamiliar acronyms and avoid crowding a headline with known acronyms. It's unattractive, potentially confusing and loses readers.
- Only name the newsmakers. Unless your readers are going to recognize the last name of a story subject shoved into the headline, don't use it. Until a killer reaches the status of Bundy, Gacy or Dahmer, "slaying suspect" or a police nickname used in quotes (i.e. "Gainesville Ripper") will do in the headline.
- Unless it's a column or editorial hed, don't editorialize. Headlines can be a conspicuous place to insert opinions, however unintentional. For more on recognizing bias, read here.
- Don't overuse question heds. They'll lose their impact. By asking the reader too much off the bat, you're missing the opportunity to toss key elements of the story their way.
- Use colons properly. A good example of usage is attributing the statement made in the headline, such as "Judge: Woman can sue for libel."
No injuries reported after police chase speeding boy through town
Think along the lines of terrorist attack conducted vs. terrorist act foiled. The shoe bomber didn't succeed in blowing up the trans-Atlantic flight, the story had a good ending when passengers restrained him, so it would be OK to venture into the territory of the slightly pun headlines about Richard Reid being tied up in knots, being the sole suspect, etc.
Pun headlines
You know those papers I mentioned that worship the ground on which their headline writers tread? They're the places that need catchy, cute, funny plays on words. They're the writers that win the headline-writing awards, the headlines that scream from newspaper stands in an effort to reel in the curious reader like fresh bait.
True masters at this game include the British tabloids, which handle both sensational gossip and their take on news stories that you'd find in the broadsheets. Check out what's going on over at The Sun.
You can have fun with headlines that involve lighter topics, feature topics, odd news (like Reuters does), outrageous tidbits, etc. For example, supermodel Naomi Campbell smacked her maid in the head with a phone and had to report to the Department of Sanitation to serve her community service sentence. The headline could be:
- Sentence not a cakewalk for diva of the catwalk
Tip sheet
Some more headline pointers to keep in mind:
The headlines that will never see the light of day
They'll float around a newsroom and never get used for fear of not being appropriate, being double entendres, offending a reader, or being too outrageous. Here are a few I've heard over the years that were good for newsroom groans but weren't going to go anywhere:
- (on news of Alec Guinness' death): Obi-Gone
(upon the U.S. bombing of a certain moutainous region of Afghanistan) Tora! Bora! Tora!
(on news of Chiquita admitting to paying terrorists) Is that a banana in your pocket, or are you going to bomb me?