COPYREADING AND

HEADLINE WRITING:
More than Just Marks and Words

“You cannot correct unless you know that there is something wrong.”

RUEL C. FERNANDEZ
Resource Speaker
 Eagle’s Eyes Ready
40 Filipino pieacekeepers are battling heavily armed
Syrian rebels who are trying to overran UN encampment on
the Golan Heights, Defense Secretary VOLTAIRE GAzmin
says yesterday.
They have high morale Gazmin told reporters,
referring to the group of Filipino peacekeepers defending
Area Position 68 of the United Nations Disengagement
Observer Force (Undof) on the Golan Heights
gazmin said the rebels attacked Area Position 68, about 4
kilometers from Area 69, after noon but was repulsed by
the Filipinos

Palace spokeswoman Abigail Valte said on the government-

run Radyo ng Bayan that even without having to take the
challenge thrown by Netizens for the President and Cabinet
members to try using the MRT themselves, government
officials were cognizant of the problems hounding the MRT.
The fire fight was going on bet ween the Filipino
peacekeepers and the rebels as of 5 p.m. in Manila

gazmine said the filipinos had reported no

casualties. He praised the elite troops’ courage and
“high morale”.

A military officiasl who asked not to be identify said the filipino

troops manning Area Positions 68 and 69 belonged to the
Philippine
Army’s elite Scout Rangers and Special Forces

Philippine Daily Inquirer, Aug. 31 2014

Shades of Green Looms Dark in the Paper

 JoseM. Almario was elected Pubic Information

Officer…

 Your penis wonderful. I enjoyed using it last night.

 He eats, shoots, and leaves.

 Political orgasm
What is COPYREADING AND HEADLINE
WRITING?
 It
is the way of improving a story and making an
appropriate headline for the article.

 The ROLE of Copy Fixers

Good copy fixers keep the spirit and substance of

the story. He/She basically brightens and polishes the
article. He makes the story better by organizing it better
than when it was submitted.
Tasks of a Copy Editor
1. Read thoroughly the news or reports.
2. Think of ways to best improve the
news.
3. Check and correct errors in news
context, grammar, punctuations,
spelling, usage, and others.
4. Present the best lead for the news.
Tasks of a Copy Editor
5. Remove editorials from news and check
for any libelous statements
in the reports.
6. Simplify words and check for any
redundancy.
7. Organize sequence or order of
paragraphs of the news.
8. Write effective headlines.
Tasks of a Copy Editor
9. Suggest font and font sizes to the
typesetter.
10. Determine columns and decks of
headlines.
11. Correct the copies by using
copyreading
symbols.
Writing Headlines
 Headlines are display windows of
newspapers. It is a quick source of
information about the story.

 Well-written headlines
grab the reader's attention
convey clear, concise thoughts
 Poorly written headlines
mislead
and confuse a reader
Headline / head
The headline or head is
the title of a news story.
While the lead
summarizes the story, the
headline summarizes the
lead. The headline of the
biggest or Number One
story on page 1 of the
newspaper is called a
banner head.
Functions of
Headlines

•To tell in capsule

form what the story
is all about
•To grade the news
as to importance
•To make the page
look attractive
Try giving this lead a headline:

Education Secretary Armin Luistro yesterday said his agency had

not abandoned its development of “God-loving learners” as he denied
having been pressured by any group into removing the phrase “God-
loving” from the DepEd’s vision statement.

Luistro: DepEd developing God-loving learners

DepEd hones God-loving learners, says Luistro

Luistro says, Deped is honing God-loving learners

The Catholic Church has denied the
sacrament of marriage to a Quezon
City councilor because of his stance
advocating birth control.

Pro-birth control councilor

denied of marriage rites
 Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

Make the head  Cat’nes places 2nd

answer as many
W’s as possible overall in reg’l confab

Scribes win in
Presscon (?)  Gulayan sa Paaralan,
sinuportahan ng PTA
Gulayan sa Paaralan,
sinuportahan(?)
 Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

 Write numbers in figures or

spell them out 9 goldsupfor
 Eighty percent grabs in Division
of del Pilarians Athletic Meet (x)
approve CyberEd (x) Nine golds up
80% of del Pilarians for grabs in
approve CyberEd Division Athletic
Meet
 Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

Positiveheads are
preferable to
negative ones.  Bulacangov’t allays
hog cholera fear
Hog cholera not
in Bulacan (x)
 ARMM polls,
ARMM polls,
ipinagpaliban
hindi tuloy
 Do’s in Writing Traditional
Heads Mentorsjoin seminar
 Be specific. on English
proficiency
 Put a verb
(improve)
expressed or
implied. Mentors join seminar
on English proficiency
 The Seminar on
English proficiency English Olympics
(x) up in October
 Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

 Omit articles ( a, an, the).  The Kids to Receive

 Do not use all caps. The
trend is down style ( lower
case except for first word
and proper nouns) and flush
left
Measles, Polio, Rubella
shots (x)
 Kidsto receive measles,
polio, rubella shots

 THE ENROLMENT Enrolment dips

DIPS by 2.5 %
 Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

The active verb is  Enrilewants new book

published only after
preferable than the death
passive, but when
the doer is not
 Overseasjob seekers
prominent, use the warned vs Web offers
passive head .
 Do’s in Writing Traditional Heads

Use the present  Ukraine seeks to join

tense for past Nato to counter Russia
stories; the
infinitive for Ukraine to join Nato
future stories. to counter Russia
Don’t’s in Headline Writing

 Journalism training (X)

 Avoidlabel, wooden
and mandatory  Join Journalism training(X)
heads.  SPAs perk up skills
in division journalism training

 Kind Principal bats for moral

values (X)
 Avoid editorializing
.  SPA training, a success (X)
 Don’t’s in Headline Writing

 Don’t
end a line with a preposition, but don’t
confuse a hanging prep. with a two-word verb.

 RP sweeps Asian titles in RP sweeps Asian titles

Petron Asian Karting Open in Petron Asian Karting Open

• Guest Speaker bats

for moral values
Don’t’s in Headline Writing

Don’t break off School Choir to per-

words, verb form in NAMCYA in
phrase, Nov. (x)
preposition and
object
Choir to perform
in NAMCYA
in November
Don’t’s in Headline Writing

Don’t abbreviate  SG election slated

months/ days in October
unless figures
follow.
 SG election slated
on Oct. 31
 Punctuating Headlines
 Use a comma in place of the conjunction and.
 In a two-line head, separate two independent clauses with a semi-
colon (;)

Palace apologizes for sorry state of MRT,

shuns ‘rush hour ride’ challenge

Ebola outbreak spreads to Senegal;

riots break out in Guinea
 Punctuating Headlines
 In using direct quotation as
 Luistro: DepEd developing
head, use dash, colon, and
God-loving learners
comma instead of the
traditional quotation
marks.  No worries, says MILF
on Bangsamoro Law delay
 SC didn’t ask for e-court
funding–Palace  MILF says, no worries
on Bangsamoro Law
delay
 Vocabulary Headline
What do the words in bold mean?

Farmers group Transport groups

scores gov’t on buck high oil price
unemployment hike

Literarycontests cap
Director Ramirez
Buwan ng Wika
keynotes Reg’l
Journalism confab
Scribes in libel row
 Vocabulary Headline
Replace the italicized words
with apt head lingo

 Campaign against
pornographic
literature going on
Drive vs smut on

 Math winners announced

Math winners bared
 Vocabulary Headline
Replace the italicized words
with apt head lingo

 Campus writers will join regional

journalism conference

 Scribes to join
reg’l presscon
 Vocabulary Headline
Replace the italicized words
with apt head lingo

 Principal approves
Student Gov’t election

 Principal okays
Student Gov’t polls
 Vocabulary Headline
Replace the italicized words
with apt head lingo

 First year student wins first

place
in poster making contest

 Freshman cops gold

in poster making tilt
 Pagsulat ng Ulo ng Balita
Ano ang mali sa ss. na ulo ng balita?
Iwasto.
 Mag-aaral, kahanga-hangang nagwagi

 REG’L SCHOOLS PRESSCON

Editor ng Malaya, nanguna sa pagsulat ng
balita

 Aklasan sa DAR, nalutas nagsipag-aklas,

bumalik

 Aklasan sa DAR, nalutas; manggagawa,

bumalik
Mechanics of Headline Writing
A Technical Instruction or The Printer’s Directions
3-30 Arial Black-Inverted Pyramid
body text: Arial Narrow
Meaning:

The first number means that the headline will run

across three columns
of the page.
The second number stands for the font size to be used. AB (Arial
Black) indicates the font type.
Inverted Pyramid is the headline pattern to be used.
The two lines below means that make a two-line headline.

Putin ready to invade Ukraine;

Kiev warns a war
 Counting the Headline
1. All small letters except jilft and mw are counted as 1.

2. Small letters jilft are counted as ½.

3. Small letters m and w are counted as 1½.

4. All capital letters except MW are counted as 1½.

5. Capital letters M and W are counted as 2.

6. Capital letters J, I, L, F, T are counted as 1.

8. All punctuation marks except the –?, $ and %
are
counted as ½.

9. Dash, question mark, dollar and percent sign are

counted as 1.

10. All figures, except 1, and spaces are counted as 1.

11. Number 1 is counted as ½.

 Putin ready to invade Ukraine;
Kiev warns a war (43 units)

Pnoy urges Senate to hasten

PDAF scam probe
(44 ½ units)
 Headline Patterns
 Crosslineor barline – a single line of headline running
over two or more columns

Indonesian turns forest into ‘school of life’

Ombudsman, kulang sa abogado

 Dropline– two or three lines of headline, usually of the

same length and are arranged diagonally

Dole Philippines donates

armchairs to Sarangani
 Headline Patterns
 Flush Left – two or more headlines are aligned at the left edge of
the column

Malacañang muling nagpaalala

sa OFWs sa pagdadala ng droga

PH cagers take Croatia

to overtime before losing
Headline Patterns
 Hanging Indention – usually three or more lines of headline, the first set flushed
to both margins and the succeeding lines are indented several spaces from the
left margin, thus hanging as if from the first

Military ready to step in

if anti-gov’t protest
turn violent

 Inverted Pyramid – two or more lines of headline with the first line flushed to both
margin and the succeeding lines getting shorter and centered

Pinoys escape massacre in

another UN camp
 Headline Patterns
 Flush Right – two or more lines of headline are aligned at the right edge
of the column

Ordinansa sa riding in tandem,

ipatutupad na sa Manila

 Flushline or full line – consists of two or more lines of the same

length

FDA: Don’t buy

these eye drops
 Other Kinds of Headline
 1. Streamer – striking bold-faced head extending across the top of
the page

 2. Umbrella – a streamer that is placed at the very top of

the page above the nameplate of the newspaper

 3. Binder – a streamer at the top of an inside page

 4. Boxed head – the headline is boxed either for

prominence of to avoid tombstoning
Other Kinds of Headline
 5. Jump head (run-over head) – headline of a news story, which is
cut and continued on the inside page; it is followed by the
word from page – or the like

 6. Subhead – a short title of a portion of news story to break the

monotony of gray text; set in boldface and occupies more than
half the column width

 7. Tagline, kicker or teaser – a short single line placed above

the main head, may be of smaller type, underlined and
set flush left or centered

 8.Hammer – if the tagline or kicker is bigger than the

headline
Umbrella
headline

Banner head,
Streamer
 4-line,
1-column
head 2-line,
4-column
head

3-column
crossline
Heads
are
flushed
left
like
this
The writer whose work cannot be improved
by a constructive editor does not exist.