WRITING THE HEAD
The art of arts, the glory of expression, and the sunshine of
the light of letters, is simplicity. Nothing is better than
simplicity--nothing can make up for excess or for the lack of
definiteness.--WALT WHITMAN.
Newspapers in Greeley’s day were judged by their editorials; to-day
they are judged in large measure by their headlines. Big type is
associated in our minds with the sensational. The paper that habitually
uses scare heads is put down as yellow, while the paper with subdued
heads is regarded as conservative in its policies. The distinction
does not always hold good: a newspaper with conservative heads may be
essentially yellower in its treatment of news than one which spreads
a banner across the top of the first page to catch the eye of the
possible buyer on the street. But as a rule it may safely be said that
the style of heads mirrors in a general way the newspaper’s character.
It would be going too far, of course, to assert that yellowness is in
direct proportion to the size of the headlines, but it is true in the
main that small head letter stands for conservatism and glaring type
for so-called yellowness, with the average American newspaper in the
middle ground.
Whether or not headlines are an index to news policy, they are one of
the most important features of the modern newspaper. Properly written,
they enable the busy reader to grasp quickly all the essential facts
of the day’s news. The head is nothing more nor less than the story
in tabloid form. (See Figure 1.) In this it differs radically from
the title of a book or a play, which merely suggests the theme. The
newspaper head is written to pique and gratify curiosity at the same
time.
FIRST REQUISITES OF THE HEAD
The head is an advertisement, and like all good advertisements it
should be honest, holding out no promise that the story does not
fulfill. It should be based on the facts as set forth in the story
and nothing else. The head writer is bound by the same rules as
the reporter; neither is permitted to “editorialize” or to draw
conclusions. If Smith is merely accused of murder for killing Jones,
the fact that space is limited does not excuse the statement that Smith
murdered Jones. As the story is qualified so should the head
be. A libelous statement in a head is cause for a damage suit, even
when the story itself is not libelous.
[Illustration:
ENGLISH RAILWAY
STRIKE IS SETTLED
BY LLOYD-GEORGE
* * *
Chancellor of Exchequer
Hero of Britain, Eclipsing
Asquith--Men to Return
to Work at Once and No
Discrimination to Be
Shown.
* * *
ARBITRATORS ARE TO
DECIDE DIFFERENCES
* * *
Representatives of Workmen
and Employers in Equal
Numbers, With Impartial
Chairman, to Have Supreme
Authority.
Figure 1.--St. Louis _Post-Dispatch_ head. This form of head
is well adapted to giving a synopsis of a big news story.]
Like the story, the head should be simple. Here again the short
Anglo-Saxon words are the best. Indeed, the head writer is put to the
necessity of using short words if he would make the head tell the
story. The head is a mosaic. Words must be fitted into a certain fixed
space, in such a way that the meaning will not be obscured. This is the
head writer’s chief problem--to meet the mechanical requirements of the
head and at the same time make the thought so plain that none can fail
to understand. (See Figure 2.)
A cardinal rule of head writing is expressed in the curt injunction:
Get action into the head. Make the head a statement of fact, not a
mere label. Never say “Shocking Accident” or “Terrible Fire,” but tell
what happened as specifically as possible. Try to get a verb in the
head, either expressed or implied. This rule, like all others that have
to do with newspaper work, is not to be applied literally under all
conditions. Exceptions may often be made in handling the feature story.
But in nine cases out of ten the best headline is one that states a
complete thought in the simplest possible manner.
[Illustration:
TWO HOTEL GUESTS MAY DIE
* * *
Others Escape Winthrop Fire in
Nightclothes
* * *
Some of Them Suffer from Slight
Injuries
* * *
Loss Is $50,000 on Cottage and
Hotel
* * *
Beach Section Threatened and Boston Gives
Aid
Figure 2.--Conservative type of head, from the Boston
_Transcript_. Notice that the second line of each deck
after the first consists of a single word.]
DEFINITENESS
As many ideas as possible should be crammed into the head. Hence the
omission by most newspapers of “a,” “an” and “the,” and the rule
against repeating important words. An article is used now and then to
fill out a line, but rarely at the beginning of a line unless it is
part of a title. The rule against the repetition of nouns, adjectives,
verbs and adverbs, which is enforced by practically all newspapers,
not only makes for variety in the head, but insures definiteness by
compelling the copy reader to seek out descriptive words to fit the
idea. For example, the top part of a head chosen at random reads:
“Graham to Give Value for Taxpayers’ Money.” The second deck says:
“Banker Candidate Promises to Apply Business Methods to Office if He Is
Elected Mayor.” Notice that the name Graham is not repeated, but that
identifying words are used instead; he is the “banker candidate.” The
head is thus made more specific and an additional idea is introduced.
The statement that he will “give value for taxpayers’ money” is
amplified and explained in the sentence following.
The copy reader’s ingenuity is often put to the test when it becomes
necessary to use synonyms in the head to avoid repetition. He should be
on his guard against using interchangeably words of similar meaning.
To call a modern hotel an inn or a woman a “member of the weaker sex”
verges on the ridiculous. A cat is a cat or an animal, never a “feline.”
THE QUESTION OF TENSE
Heads are usually written in the present tense unless they relate
to a future event. (See Figure 3.) This is the historical present,
used instead of the past tense for the sake of greater vividness.
“Defies His Accusers” drives home the recency of the occurrence. The
reader feels that he is getting something new. “President Speaks at
Albany” means that the President has just spoken, either on the day
of publication or the previous day. It is news--the latest thing the
President has done that is of public interest. It must not be inferred
from this that the past tense is barred from the head. On the contrary
there are occasions when it would be absurd to use anything else.
The copy reader would write, “William Smith Dies” or “William Smith
is Dead,” but in giving details of the dead man’s life it would be
manifestly foolish to say, “Is Born in Missouri,” “Is a Civil War
Veteran.” While the copy reader must observe the style of the paper
that employs him, he is not expected to apply any rule slavishly in
defiance of common sense.
[Illustration:
2 HURT, 50 ROUTED
BY BLAZE IN FLATS
* * *
Tenants of Apartment-House
Are Driven to Street in
Night Attire.
* * *
BOYS TRAPPED ON A ROOF
* * *
Youths Finally Slide to Ground
on Rain Pipe--Fire Loss
Is $25,000.
Figure 3.--Four-deck head from the Chicago _Record-Herald_;
a well-balanced, typographically neat head built according
to a general plan followed by many newspapers.]
The Kansas City _Star_ and _Times_, recognized as one of the most
carefully edited newspapers, affords a striking exception to the
general practice of putting the head in the present tense and omitting
the articles. The _Star_ prefers the past tense when it can be properly
used and encourages sentences with all the articles supplied. For
example: “A Tennessee Wreck Hurt 21--Two Coaches Were Burned, but Sixty
Persons Escaped.” Most newspapers would have said: “Tennessee Wreck
Hurts 21--Two Coaches Are Burned (or Burn), but Sixty Persons Escape.”
Without arguing the relative merits of the two types of heads, it is
worth noting that the _Star’s_ departure from custom in this and other
respects has given it a distinct individuality that no reader can
overlook. (See Figure 4.)
Whichever tense is used, take care to make the head consistent
throughout. Don’t switch from the present to the past, or vice versa,
without reason.
[Illustration:
TWO ROBBERS GOT $10.523
* * *
A WOMAN WAS THE VICTIM OF KANSAS
HIGHWAYMEN.
* * *
Money Intended to Pay Off the Men of
the Sheridan Coal Company, Near
Pittsburg, Was Taken--Could
Have Had $30,000.
Figure 4.--Typical Kansas City _Star_ head, using
the past tense.]
THE MECHANICS OF THE HEAD
The divisions of a head are known variously as lines, decks or banks.
A two-line or a two-deck head is one divided into two parts by a dash.
The word “line” in this sense means a complete division of a head, no
matter what its length in type lines. The top deck, which is set in the
largest type, should contain the leading feature of the story. This is
amplified and minor features are added in the other parts. Most papers
require that each division of a head shall state a complete thought,
having a verb expressed or implied; or, to put the rule negatively,
that no sentence shall be continued from one division into another.
The other type of head--the running head--is shown in this example
from the Cincinnati _Enquirer_, the dashes indicating the divisional
breaks: “Pomp--Waits on Humility,--As Dignitaries of a Great Church Bow
in Prayer.--Impressive Scenes Witnessed at Music Hall--When Episcopal
Triennial Convention Opened.”
All heads are made local in their application. The word “here” in the
head on an out-of-town story means the city in which the paper is
published, not the place where the story originated. Time is given, in
the head with reference to the date of publication. Thus a story dated
May 9, is published in the morning paper of May 10, and “to-day” in the
head means May 10.
SOME THINGS TO AVOID
Alliteration occasionally may be used with good effect in a head, but
unintentional alliteration--as “Commercial Club Considers Cleaning
Contracts”--should be avoided. Slang, unless apt and timely, has no
greater justification in the head than in the story.
Some newspapers forbid the head that asks a question, except perhaps on
stories of a freakish nature, on the theory that a newspaper’s business
is to inform, not to ask questions. Others permit the questioning head
as a means of qualifying a statement. Thus a report which has not been
verified may be headed with a line followed by an interrogation point,
as “Revolution in Cuba?” This style of head writing may easily be
overworked. Seeing several question marks on the same page, the reader
might jump to the conclusion that he had better subscribe for a paper
that can tell him something instead of one that appears to deal mainly
in rumors.
Another style of head discouraged or forbidden altogether by some
papers is the unintentional imperative. This is a head beginning
with a verb in the third person plural form, which may be read as
an injunction to do something. “Kill Thirty Men” may be the head on
a story of an insurrection. It means, of course, “They Kill Thirty
Men,” but the form, when the subject is not expressed, is also the
imperative. Only a few newspapers bar this head altogether, as there is
seldom any possibility that it will be misconstrued. An iron-clad rule
forbidding it can be justified only on the ground that the rule is
part of a newspaper’s arbitrary style.
[Illustration:
TAFT UP IN THE MONUMENT
* * *
PRESIDENT GOES SIGHTSEEING
IN THE CAPITAL.
* * *
Rides Up the Tall Tower Along With Some
Tourists--Then Visits the Senate’s
New Office Building and Says He’s
Having Fun Like an Excursionist.
Figure 5.--New York _Sun_ head. The _Sun_ style demands
that in this head the last line of the third deck shall
end flush at the right.]
Trite phrasing should be avoided in the head whenever possible. “Score”
and “probe” and “rap” are handy words for the copy reader because
of their brevity and are liable to overuse. The head that contains
worn-out expressions or that fails to get anywhere is, in the office
vernacular, wooden. Woodenness is an unpardonable sin. Try to give the
head a swing and an element of originality. (See Figure 5.)
Avoid negative statements in the head. Tell what happened rather than
what didn’t happen, unless a negation is the feature of the story.
Other things being equal, the active voice is better than the passive.
“Jones Defeats Smith for Mayor” is preferable to “Smith Is Defeated by
Jones.”
Avoid the monotony of beginning each division of a three or four-deck
head with the same subject. The following is an extreme example of this
fault: “She Died To-day--Esteemed Lady Passes Away at Her Home West of
City This Morning--She Was 85 Years of Age--She Leaves Five Children
and Thirteen Grandchildren.” An even more glaring defect in this head
is the omission of the name. The reader learns only that “she” died.
Don’t build any part of the head on a fact that is tucked away near the
end of the story and hence may be pruned off in making up the paper. In
handling a story that is likely to be cut down between editions, base
the head on features well toward the beginning so that the head will
not have to be changed.
SYMMETRY AND SENSE
Each head must be written according to a fixed typographical plan.
There is a definite limit to the number of letters and spaces each type
line will contain, and the copy reader who exceeds that limit is sure
to be reminded, sarcastically, that “type isn’t made of rubber.” “Long
heads”--heads that will not fit into the allotted space--are a source
of vexation and delay if they are not repaired before being sent to the
composing room. The copy reader should take pains to make each head
fit the pattern before it leaves his hands. Until he has familiarized
himself with the heads he must write, he may find it convenient to keep
at hand a style card on which is pasted a sample of each head used,
with notations showing the number of letters and spaces to be written
in the different divisions. Each type line is said to contain so many
units, counting spaces as well as letters. All the letters of a line
set in “caps” are one unit each, except I, which is one-half, and M and
W, which are one and one-half each. The line, “WILLIAM SMITH DIES,”
contains 17½ units (not counting the quotation marks). A unit beyond
the usual limit may be crowded into the line by thin-spacing--that is,
by allowing less than the regular space between words. The same system
of counting is used for a line set in capitals and small letters,
allowance of course being made for the greater width of the capitals.
The head should be symmetrical, but it is not required that it fit the
pattern with absolute exactitude. Insistence on mechanical perfection
would cause waste of time and might result in hiding the meaning. Sense
should not be sacrificed to form. As between a mechanically exact
head that is not clear and a head that is less symmetrical but tells
the story plainly, the copy reader should choose the latter. For each
line of a head there is a maximum and a minimum limit, and if the copy
reader keeps within these the head will be as near to the standard as
can be expected.
[Illustration:
TOO MUCH FLABBY
EDUCATION, HE SAYS
* * *
President Schurman Talks on
Character to Victorious
Cornell Crew.
Figure 6.--Two-deck head consisting of drop line in caps
and pyramid in caps and lower case.]
Figure 6 shows a two-line head with the top deck set in 30-point
condensed Gothic type and the second deck in 12-point Wayside. The
top deck here is a drop line: the sentence drops down from one type
line into another. The second is called a pyramid. In writing such a
head a word in the first deck should never be divided. In the second
deck division is permissible, but the head is better if it can be
avoided. Fifteen to seventeen units in each line of the top deck make a
symmetrical head, when both lines are approximately the same length. In
writing the pyramid the copy reader after a little practice can tell at
a glance whether a sentence will fit. Care should be taken not to place
an indivisible word where it will cause trouble. For example, if the
first line of a pyramid, set with the usual spacing between words, ends
on the letter “m” in “Schmidt,” the word must be shifted to the second
line, with the result that too much white space appears in the first.
The dash is generally used to separate distinct ideas in the same deck
of a head. (See Figure 5.)
Various arbitrary rules affecting the mechanics of the head are
observed by different newspapers, and the copy reader going from one
paper to another is likely to find a brand new set of patterns to
work by. These mechanical details, however, are easily mastered after
one has acquired the knack of putting the story into terse, meaty
sentences. The only way to learn how to write heads, after one knows
the general principles, is to write them.
SPECIAL KINDS OF HEADS
=Overline.=--Head over a cut. When the name appears under a cut (this
being an _underline_), it is not repeated in the overline, which must
be an identifying sentence. “Banker Who Is Running for Congress” and
“Woman Who Shot at Burglar in Her Home” are typical overlines.
=Box Head.=--Head enclosed in a border. Many overlines are set in this
way.
=Banner.=--A headline extending across the top of a page.
=Jump or Run-Over Head.=--Head used over the continuation of a story
that runs over (jumps) from one page to another. Some newspapers
require a new head for the jump; others use the top deck of the
original head set in smaller type.
=Freak Head.=--Special type of head used over freakish news stories.
(See Figure 7.)
[Illustration:
_CAN’T FIX PUFFS;
SUES FOR $25,000._
* * *
_Woman’s Shoulder Injured on
Street Car and She Asks
Damages of Company._
Figure 7.--Freak head from the New York _World_, set in
italics to distinguish it from other news heads.]
=Sub-head.=--A head, usually one line, placed within the text of
the story to avoid the monotony of an unbroken front of type. Most
newspapers use sub-heads in stories running half a column or more. “Two
sub-heads or none” is the rule in some offices. A sub-head is based on
the paragraph immediately following.
CAPITALIZATION
Type, in the printer’s vernacular, is _upper case_ (capital letters)
and _lower case_ (small letters). A word that is capitalized is said to
go _up_. A word not capitalized is put _down_. When both capitals and
small letters are used in a line, it is said to be in _caps and lower
case_ (abbreviated l. c.). A line set in capitals is _all caps_.
The general practice is to capitalize all nouns, pronouns, adjectives,
verbs, adverbs and interjections in the head, as in the title of a book
or play. This is a detail left to the compositor, who is guided by the
newspaper’s typographical style.