AY Honors/Journalism/Answer Key

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A well-known headline from the Chicago Tribune, mistakenly announcing defeat for Harry S. Truman in the 1948 U.S. presidential election.

A headline is text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.

Headlines may be written in bold, and are written in a much larger size than the article text. Headline conventions include normally using present tense, omitting forms of the verb "to be" in certain contexts, and removing short articles like "a" and "the". Most newspapers feature a very large headline on their front page, dramatically describing the biggest news of the day. A headline may also be followed by a smaller secondary headline which gives a bit more information or a subhead (also called a deck or nutgraf in some areas).

Headlines are generally written by copy editors, but may also be written by the writer, the page layout designer or a news editor or managing editor.

Occasionally, the need to keep headlines brief leads to unintentional double meanings, if not double entendres. For example, if the story is about the president of Iraq trying to acquire weapons, the headline might be IRAQI HEAD SEEKS ARMS. Or if some agricultural legislation is defeated in the United States House of Representatives, the title could read FARMER BILL DIES IN HOUSE.

The film The Shipping News has an illustrative exchange between the protagonist, who is learning how to write for a local newspaper, and his publisher:

• 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.
• Protagonist: HORIZON FILLS WITH DARK CLOUDS?
• Publisher: IMMINENT STORM THREATENS VILLAGE.
• Protagonist: But what if no storm comes?
• Publisher: VILLAGE SPARED FROM DEADLY STORM.

In the United States, headline contests are sponsored by the American Copy Editors Society, the National Federation of Press Women, and many state press associations.

Unusual headlines

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The Drop Dead cover in 1975

• WALL ST. LAYS AN EGG - Variety on Black Monday (1929)
• STICKS NIX HICK PIX - Variety writing that rural moviegoers preferred urbane films (1935)
• DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN - The Chicago Tribune reporting the wrong election winner (1948)
• FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD - New York Daily News reporting the denial of a federal bailout (1975)
• SICK TRANSIT'S GLORIOUS MONDAY - New York Daily News reporting a state transit bailout (1980)[1]
• GOTCHA! - The UK Sun on the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands War (1981)
• HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR - New York Post on a local murder (1983)
• HICKS NIX KNICKS IN SIX - New York Daily News on an NBA Conference Finals win by Indiana Pacers (2000)
• GREAT SATAN SITS DOWN WITH THE AXIS OF EVIL - The Times on US-Iran talks (2007)[2]

External links

• Typography for headlines A collection of headlines for online articles and blog posts that display interesting and creative typography. A good source of design inspiration.
• Front Page - The British Library Exhibition of famous newspaper headlines (2006)

See also

• headlinese
• "Headlines" (from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno)

Headlines also refer to the marks left on the scalp after sleeping with corduroy pillows.