Headlines are becoming increasingly important in the internet age.

Not
only do they capture the reader's attention, they serve as source material 2. Leave out auxiliary verbs
for search engines. Today a reader is just as likely to come across an With perfect (e.g. has done), progressive (e.g. is doing) and passive
article by reading a list of search engine results as by scanning a structures (e.g. is done), auxiliary verbs are not necessary (e.g. have, is).
newspaper page. This makes some headlines appear to be in the past tense, when actually
Headlines should be clear and specific, telling the reader what the story the headlines use past participles, or particles, not the past simple.
is about, and be interesting enough to draw them into reading the article. Similarly, changing events are represented by the present participle on its
 5-10 words at the most own.
 should be accurate and specific
o City Council to Cut Taxes doesn't mean the same thing  New policy decided by Parliament (New policy has been decided by
as City Council to Cut Budget Parliament)
 Use present tense and active verbs, but don't start with a verb  Lion escapes zoo – ten killed (ten people have been killed / were
o Man Skateboards for Homeless killed)
 Use infinitive form of verb for future actions  Four stranded in sudden flood (four people have been stranded /
o Convention to Create Jobs were stranded)
 Do not use articles - a, an, the  Temperatures rising as climate changes (temperatures are rising)
 Do not use conjunctions like and - you can substitute a comma
o President Declares Peace, Holiday 3. Use infinitives for future events
 Should be complete sentences or imply complete sentence Using the infinitive (e.g. to do), a future time is not always necessary to
o Crackdown on Trafficking doesn't tell you who's doing the demonstrate the future tense in headlines (and likewise, other future
trafficking and what kind of trafficking tense verbs are not needed).
 Avoid repetition - Headlines summarize; they don't repeat the lede.  Parliament to decide new policy tomorrow (Parliament is to decide /
o Rays Win - not Rays Win Final Game of Playoffs will decide a new policy tomorrow)
 Don't use unidentified pronouns  President to visit France for further talks (President is to visit / is
o They Win Pennant! going to visit France for further talks later this week)
 Avoid clever for clever's sake
o Rays Flip-Flop On St. Petersburg 4. Leave out articles (a, an, the)
 Prime Minister hikes Alps for charity (The Prime Minister hiked the
8 Grammar Rules for Newspaper Headlines Alps)
 Man releases rabid dog in park (A man released a rabid dog in a
1. Use present simple tense for past events park)
The present tense (it does) is quick and current, and helps emphasise the
action happening, rather than its completion. 5. Leave out “to be”
 Residents unhappy about new road (Residents are unhappy…)
 Parliament confirms new stray dog policy  Family of murder victim satisfied with court decision (Family of
 Lion escapes zoo murder victim is satisfied…)
If we want to demonstrate the result of an action, or that something was
completed, we can use perfect tenses (e.g. it has done / it had done), and 6. Leave out “to say”
for changing events, the present continuous may be used (e.g. it is doing).  Mr Jones: “They’re not taking my house!”
However, these tenses are often shown by using participles alone (e.g.  Bush on Iraqi invasion: “This aggression will not stand.”
done / doing). Reported speech is usually represented by a colon, or a hyphen, with the
 Lion recaptured earlier today. subject introduced with ‘on…’. This includes leaving out other verbs such
 Parliament confirming new policies every day. as comment, tell, argue, announce, shout – unless the act of speaking
needs emphasising, for instance to demonstrate a promise or official today is Monday, and the fire happened this morning. You might be
policy. tempted to write the lead like this: “Fire destroyed a house on Main Street
 Warlord decrees “Peace by Spring.” early this morning.” And doing so might be just fine if your lead were
going to be published, read and discarded that same day. But if you’re
writing something that won’t get distributed until the following day, keep
7. Replace conjunctions with punctuation in mind that someone who reads that the fire occurred “this morning” will
 Police arrest serial killer – close case on abductions inaccurately assume that “this morning” means “Tuesday morning.” Also,
 Fire in bakery: hundreds dead if you’re story is going to hang around on the Web for a while, “this
As with reporting speech, commas, colons, semi-colons, hyphens and so morning” could mean just about anything to someone who reads it days,
on can replace all conjunctions, or some joining verbs, to join clauses. months or even years afterward, even if your story carries a time stamp.
Commas may also be used to join nouns (more common in American To avoid such problems, AP style recommends using the day of the week
English). for the “when” of events within seven days of the current date. For dates
 Man kills 5, self outside that time frame, use the month and day. See you AP Stylebook’s
“time element” and “months” entries for details.
8. Use figures for numbers
 9 dead in glue catastrophe Rule #2: The lead’s first verb should express the main “what” of
 7 days to Christmas – shoppers go mad the story and should be placed among the lead’s first seven
words.
Lead Writing
Example: “Fire destroyed a house on Main Street early Monday morning.”
Rule #1: A straight news lead should be a single paragraph The verb “destroyed” expresses the main “what” of the story. “Destroyed”
consisting of a single sentence, should contain no more than 30 is the lead’s second word — a position that puts “destroyed” well in front
words, and should summarize, at minimum, the most newsworthy of “Street,” the lead’s seventh word. Again, notice that the word count
“what,” “where” and “when” of the story. includes even little words like “a” and “on.”
There are no other verbs in front of “destroyed,” so “destroyed” is the
Example: “Fire destroyed a house on Main Street early Monday morning.” lead’s first verb.
The lead is a single-sentence paragraph. Note, please, that a lead should
be written in ordinary English, not the clipped phrasing reserved for Following this rule will force you to quickly tell readers what the story is
headlines like “Main Street home destroyed in early morning fire.” about.
Headlines, which appear in large print above the stories they introduce,
are written that way to conserve space. But people would consider you Rule #3: The lead’s first verb — the same one that expresses the
strange if you went around talking like that all the time. Your audience will main “what” of the story — should be active voice, not passive
consider you strange if you talk that way in your journalistic writing. voice. A verb is active voice if the verb’s subject did, is doing, or
will do something.
The lead contains 10 words — far fewer than the 30-word limit. Notice that
the word count includes even little words like “a” and “on.” The lead also Example: “Fire destroyed a house on Main Street early Monday morning.”
summarizes the main “what” of the story, which is that fire destroyed a “Destroyed” is the verb. “Fire” is the verb’s subject. “Fire” did something.
house. It provides the “where” of the story with the phrase “on Main It destroyed. A verb is passive voice if the verb’s subject had, is having, or
Street.” Finally, the lead gives the “when” of the story with the phrase will have something done to it. For example, if the lead were, “A house
“early Monday morning.” was destroyed by fire on Main Street early Monday morning,” “was” would
be the verb, “house” would be the verb’s subject, and “house” would have
Important note: There are some mental gymnastics involved in correctly had something done to it. The house “was destroyed” (by fire). If you read
conveying the “when” of a newspaper story. Suppose, for example, that your lead and feel compelled to add something like the “by fire” phrase
after the verb in order to express who or what did what the verb is objectively and indisputably true that the man is dead, that his house was
describing, chances are you’ve written a passive-voice lead. destroyed, that it all happened early Monday morning, and that the house
was on Main Street. But the arson investigator’s assertion that faulty
Rule #4: If there’s a “who” involved in the story, the lead should wiring caused the blaze represents the investigator’s opinion. It is, of
give some indication of who the “who” is. course, an insightful opinion based upon his training and expertise, which
is the only reason it is worth including at all. But it is an opinion
First example: “An elderly Murfreesboro man died Monday when an early nonetheless. Therefore, the assertion needs to be attributed to the
morning fire raged through his Main Street home.” investigator so readers can decide for themselves how credible the
The “who” is “an elderly Murfreesboro man.” In this case, the “who” assertion is.
probably isn’t someone whose name readers would recognize. As a result,
the “who” angle of the lead focuses on what things about the “who” might Be aware that this rule and many of the others apply mainly to written
make the “who” important to the reader. In this case, it’s the fact that the forms of journalism. In the lead for radio or TV news story, for example,
man was older and lived in Murfreesboro. That’s called writing a “blind attribution, if included at all, usually goes at the beginning, as in, “The
lead.” The man’s name will be given later in the story. city’s arson investigator concluded Monday that faulty wiring most likely
sparked the blaze that claimed the life of an elderly Murfreesboro man last
Second example: “Murfreesboro Mayor Joe Smith died Monday when an week.” The idea behind this alternative organization of the lead is that
early morning fire raged through his Main Street home.” audience members, when listening to or watching the story rather than
Smith is the local mayor, and most readers probably will recognize his reading it, need a little extra time to start mentally processing the
name. information being presented, and they’ll be more likely to remember the
As a result, the lead’s “who” element gives his name. So, use the name of information at the end of the lead than the information at the beginning of
the “who” in the lead only when the name is likely to be recognized by a the lead.
large percentage of your audience. Sentence Openers
It was discovered that… Interviewed afterwards she said… In addition
Rule #5: The lead should summarize the “why” and “how” of the to this… Eyewitnesses say…
story, but only if there’s room.
He agreed that… He told our reporter… They confirmed that… She
Example: “An elderly Murfreesboro man died early Monday morning when refused to comment…
fire sparked by faulty wiring raged through his Main Street home.”
In this example, “… fire … raged through his Main Street home …” He claimed that… The suspect said… She reputably… The witness
explains why the man died. Meanwhile, “… sparked by faulty wiring …” continued by informing us that…
explains how the blaze began.
He also spoke of how… She went on to tell us… A spokesman stated
Rule #6: If what’s in the lead needs to be attributed, place the that… Nevertheless…
attribution at the end of the lead, never at the beginning of the
lead. It has been reported… According to witnesses. He emphasised… She
disputed that…
Example: “Faulty wiring most likely sparked the blaze that claimed the life
of an elderly Murfreesboro man last week, the city’s arson investigator Scientists say… She described…
concluded Monday.”
Attribution is a reference indicating the source of some bit of information.
In this case, the attribution is the phrase, “the city’s arson investigator
concluded Monday.” Generally, attribute assertions that represent
anything other than objective, indisputably true information. Here, it is