Copyreading and

Headline Writing
 Copyreading

 It is the art of arranging, correcting, and

selecting the quality and type of news
 It is also called copyediting.
 One who edits copies is called a copyreader
or copyeditor
 Duties of a copyreader

1. Straighten out grammatical construction.

2. Shorten sentences and tighten paragraphs.
3. See that the paper’s style requirements are
strictly followed.
4. Rewrite the story completely if it is poorly
written.
5. Rewrite lead on the first few paragraphs
whenever necessary, but must never tamper with
the facts unless he is sure of his corrections.
 Duties of a copyreader

1. Straighten out grammatical construction.

2. Shorten sentences and tighten paragraphs.
3. See that the paper’s style requirements are
strictly followed.
4. Rewrite the story completely if it is poorly
written.
5. Rewrite lead on the first few paragraphs
whenever necessary, but must never tamper with
the facts unless he is sure of his corrections.
6. Delete all opinion, speculations and statements
on news which are without attributions or
sources.
7. Watch for slanting or any attempt to present
the story in a subtly biased way.
8. Watch out for libelous statements.
9. Recheck figures and totals.
10. Cross out adjectives in news which tend to
make a story sound over-written.
11. Cut a story to size or to the required length if
necessary.
12. Check attributions and see to it that they are
properly identified.
13. Challenge facts, claims, or reports
when they sound anomalous, illogical
and incredible.
14. Check sluglines and paging sequences.
15. Write headlines.
13. Challenge facts, claims, or reports
when they sound anomalous, illogical
and incredible.
14. Check sluglines and paging sequences.
15. Write headlines.
 Characteristics of a Good
Copyreader
 He must good in English
 Have a mastery of
copyreading symbols
 Know the paper’s policy
 Characteristics of a Good
Copyreader
 He must good in English
 Have a mastery of
copyreading symbols
 Know the paper’s policy
 Tools a copyreader should have:

 A dictionary to be used to check the

spelling and meaning of words
 Newspaper’s stylebook
 A file of all newspapers
 An atlas for checking geographical names
locations
 Telephone directory
 A listing of news personalities
THE EDITED COPY
 Copy reading symbols

 SYMBOL  MEANING
-Professor Juan Masipag Abbreviate
-Prof. Masipag Spell out word
- Bought ten cans Set in numerals
- 8 participants Spell out

CRHW prepared by
Ana Marie Contreras-Calapit
 Copy reading symbols
 SYMBOL  MEANING
Abbreviate
-Professor Juan Masipag

-Prof. Masipag Spell out word

- Bought ten cans Set in numerals
- 8 participants Spell out

CRHW prepared by
Ana Marie Contreras-Calapit
  SYMBOL
 MEANING
Transpose letters
- Local govermnent

- Administration school Transpose words

- Manila, philippines Set in capitals
- She Edited the Set in lower case
- occassion Delete letter
- The new recruits Delete & close up
th e Insert word
- Pretty girl
r
- occurence Insert letter
CRHW prepared by
Ana Marie Contreras-Calapit
 SYMBOL  MEANING

‘
Dr Juan Flavier Put period

Mary s book “ Insert apostrophe

“I don’t believe it, Insert quotation mark

she said

,
Los Angeles California Insert comma

- -
six year old boy Insert hyphen
CRHW prepared by
Ana Marie Contreras-Calapit
Pointers in Copyediting
 NUMBERS

 The numbers 1 – 9 are written in words while

the numbers 10 and above are written in
figures.
Example:
nine students
13 children
 NUMBERS

EXCEPTIONS:
 dates, address: always in figures.
 proper nouns: may be written in
figures/words
 beginning of sentence: always in words
 events: 1st – 9th is allowed
 Spelling

 Look for misspelled words.

 Here in the Philippines, American English is
used, not British English.
Ex: color, not colour
 If a word has more than one accepted
spelling, the shortest one is preferred.
Ex: judgment, instead of judgement
 Capitalization

 The first letter of the sentence is always

capitalized.
 Proper nouns are capitalized, common nouns
are not.
Ex: singer
Regine Velasquez
 Capitalization

 Small letters are usually used for title or

position.
Ex: Mrs. Cecilia Burayag, the principal of
BCIS, delivered the opening remarks.
 Capitalized titles: Governor Umali
 abbreviations

 Spell out Dept., gov’t, and other abbreviations.

 The abbreviations Jr. and Sr. are allowed in
names.
 Remember:
Engr. Emmanuel Delgado;
Engineer Delgado
12 Dimagiba St.; Dimagiba Street
 abbreviations

 A title or position of a person may be

abbreviated if it appears before the name but
not if simply used in the sentence:
Ex: Sen. Recto filed another taxation bill
yesterday.
The senator filed another taxation bill
yesterday.
 Acronyms

 Acronyms are usually written in capital

letters.
Example:
BCIS
 Check if the letters of the acronym are in the
correct order.
 Acronyms

 When an acronym appears for the first time in

a news story, it is written after its meaning
and it is enclosed in parentheses.
Ex: University of the Philippines (UP)
 paragraph

 The first sentence of a paragraph is indented.

 In news stories, the rule is one paragraph, one
sentence only.
 lead

 There should be no names of unknown

persons in the lead.
 Check for buried leads.
 The standard lead answers the 5 Ws and 1 H.
 Grammar

Check for errors in:

 Tenses of Verbs
 Subject-Verb Agreement
 Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement (agreement
in gender and number)
 Articles (a, an, the)
 Grammar

Remember: he said and not said he;

Aquino said and not said Aquino
Remember: three-day training and not three-
days training.
Trained for three days and not trained for
three-day.
 Punctuation: period .
 It is used at the end of declarative and
imperative sentences.
 It is used in abbreviations such as p.m., a.m.,
Jr., Sr., Pres., Sen., Rep., Gov., Gen., Capt.,
Dr., Fr., Atty., Corp., and Inc.
 Acronyms of schools, organizations and
offices do not need periods.
 Punctuation: comma ,
Use commas:
 to separate the month and day from the year.
 to separate the street, barangay, town and
province in an address
 to separate facts concerning victims and
suspects.
Ex: Jolas Burayag, 17, of Barangay San
Fernando Norte
 Punctuation: hyphen
-
Use hyphen:
 in most compound nouns
Ex: editor-in-chief, officer-in-charge
 in fractions
Ex: two-thirds, three-fourths
 in numerals
Ex: twenty-two, fifty-nine
 Punctuation:
Quotation marks “ ”
 Quotation marks are used in direct quotations.
Indirect quotations do not need them.
Ex. “I forgot it,” he said.
He said he forgot it.
 Periods and commas are written first before
closing quotation marks.
Ex. “Let’s go to SM,” the boy said.
 Punctuation:
Quotation marks “ ”
 Quotation marks are used to set off titles of
events, shows, movies, books, etc.
Ex. We watched “The Titanic.”
 Quotation marks are used to set off an alias or
nickname.
Ex. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.
Juan Chua a.k.a. “Boy Singkit”
 Punctuation: Apostrophe
‘
 Apostrophes are used in the possessive form
of the noun.
Ex. the teacher’s table
the teachers’ meeting
 In contractions
Ex. I’m (I am)
you’re (you are)
 reminders

 Watch out for jumbled letters, words and

paragraphs.
 Check for joined/disjoined words.
Ex. class room, newteacher
 Delete editorializing words/phrases.
Ex. The very beautiful and intelligent
principal…
The cops were right in arresting…
 reminders

 Check for redundancies (recurring

words/phrases/paragraphs, synonymous or
redundant terms).
Ex. the concert the concert ended
 REMEMBER: After editing the news story,
write 30 at the end of the article. If the article
is not yet finished, write more at the bottom
of the page.
Headline writing
 headline

 an assemblage of words written in bigger,

bolder letters than the usual page text at the
beginning of the news
 it is not a title
 FUNCTIONS OF HEADLINE

1) to attract readers
2) to tell the story (in a summary)
3) to add variety of type (to break monotony in a
sea of type)
4) to identify personality of newspaper (use of
font/style of letters)
5) to index/grade the news (big type for important
news; small type for less important)
 Tips in headline writing

1. First, read the story for general meaning.

2. Clues to the headline are usually in the lead.
What happened?
Who did what?
How did if happen?
 Tips in headline writing

3.Use the shortest words possible.

Examples include:
cop – policeman
nab – arrest
mishap – accident
up – increase
down – decrease
thief - robber
 Tips in headline writing

4.Have a subject and a verb. Avoid starting with

a verb; the headline might sound as if it were
giving orders.
Wrong: Revise money mart guidelines
Correct: Central Bank revises money mart
guidelines
 Tips in headline writing

5.Use the historical present tense if the verb is

in the active voice.
Wrong: Delgado topped editorial tilt
Correct: Delgado tops editorial tilt
 Tips in headline writing

6.Omit the helping verb if the verb is in the

passive voice. Only the past participle is
retained.
Wrong: Drug pushers are nabbed
Correct: Drug pushers nabbed
 Tips in headline writing

7.Use the infinitive for future events.

Wrong: City Hall will punish anti-squatting
drive
Correct: City Hall to punish anti-squatting drive
 Tips in headline writing

8. Do not use a period at the end of the headline.

9.Omit articles (a, an, the).
Wrong: A fire hits Tondo slum area
Correct: Fire hits Tondo slum area
 Tips in headline writing

Use a comma instead of “and” in writing

10.
headlines.
Delays, confusion bug Asiad
Lacson, Trillanes no show at SONA
 Tips in headline writing

11. Use semicolon to separate sentences.

Gina Lopez heads Pasig body;
Noy swears in 35 other execs
12. Use the punctuation marks (especially the
exclamation point) sparingly.
 Tips in headline writing
13. Use single quotes (‘) in headlines
instead of double quotes (“).
14. Always give the source of a quote.
Quotation marks are not needed, a dash
or a colon will serve the purpose.
Crackdown on errant bus firms – Enrile
Enrile: Crackdown on errant bus firms
 Tips in headline writing

15.Use the down-style – only the first word and

proper nouns are capitalized, unless otherwise
indicated. This is more readable because
people are used to reading sentences this way.
Ex. Faculty honors Nuñez
 Tips in headline writing

Use only widely known abbreviations.

16.
Wrong: JEE to play Santa this Christmas
 Tips in headline writing

Don’t use names unless the person is well

17.
known, use common nouns instead.
Wrong: Santos electrocuted
Correct: Carpenter electrocuted
 Tips in headline writing

18.Use specific terms instead of generalities

Example: Trader killed
Better: Trader stabbed to death
 Tips in headline writing

19. Just report the facts; do not editorialize.

Wrong: Noy gives inspiring talks
(The word “inspiring” is just your opinion.)
20. Be positive. Don't use negatives in headlines.
They weaken not only the headlines but also
the stories.
 Kinds of headline

1. Flush
left – two or more lines of
headline are aligned at the left
edge of the column.
Example:
Malacanang considers
Abat adventure over
2. Flush right – two or more
lines of headline are
aligned at the right edge of
the column.
Example:
Malacanang considers
Abat adventure over
2. Flush right – two or more
lines of headline are
aligned at the right edge of
the column.
Example:
Malacanang considers
Abat adventure over
3. Dropline – two or more lines
of headline, usually of the
same length and arranged
diagonally.
Example:
DOLE Philippines donates
arm chairs to Sarangani
3. Dropline – two or more lines
of headline, usually of the
same length and arranged
diagonally.
Example:
DOLE Philippines donates
arm chairs to Sarangani
4. Hanging Indention- usually three or
more lines of headline, the first line set
flush to both margins and the succeeding
lines re indented or beginning several
spaces in from the left margin, thus
hanging as it from the first.
Example:
Military ready to step in
if anti-gov’t protest
turn violent
4. Hanging Indention- usually three or
more lines of headline, the first line set
flush to both margins and the succeeding
lines re indented or beginning several
spaces in from the left margin, thus
hanging as it from the first.
Example:
Military ready to step in
if anti-gov’t protest
turn violent
5. Crossline or barline – a single
line of headline running over
two or more columns.
Example:
Grenade blast kills 2 kids
5. Crossline or barline – a single
line of headline running over
two or more columns.
Example:
Grenade blast kills 2 kids
6. Inverted pyramid – two or
more lines of headline with
the first line flushed to both
margin and the succeeding
lines getting shorter and
centered.
Example:
DepEd sets new guidelines
for teacher-applicants
6. Inverted pyramid – two or
more lines of headline with
the first line flushed to both
margin and the succeeding
lines getting shorter and
centered.
Example:
DepEd sets new guidelines
for teacher-applicants
7. Flushline or full line –
consists of two or more
liens of the same length.
Example:
Garci names solons
who also called him
7. Flushline or full line –
consists of two or more
liens of the same length.
Example:
Garci names solons
who also called him
8. Streamer –
striking boldface
head extending
across the top of the
page.
8. Streamer –
striking boldface
head extending
across the top of the
page.
9. Umbrella – a streamer
that is placed at the very
top of the page above the
nameplate of the
newspaper.
9. Umbrella – a streamer
that is placed at the very
top of the page above the
nameplate of the
newspaper.
10. Boxed head – the headline is
boxed either for prominence or to
avoid tombstoning.
a. Full box – ICT to generate 1M
jobs
b. Half box - ICT to generate 1M
jobs
c. Quarter box - ICT to generate
1M jobs
10. Boxed head – the headline is
boxed either for prominence or to
avoid tombstoning.
a. Full box – ICT to generate 1M
jobs
b. Half box - ICT to generate 1M
jobs
c. Quarter box - ICT to generate
1M jobs
11. Jump Head (run-over
head) – headline of news
story, which is cut and
continued on the inside
page; it is followed by
the words column width.
from page – or the like
11. Jump Head (run-over
head) – headline of news
story, which is cut and
continued on the inside
page; it is followed by
the words column width.
from page – or the like
12. Tagline, kicker or
teaser – a short single
line placed above
main head, may be
smaller type,
underlined and set
flush left or centered.
 DECK

 This is the number of lines your headline will

have
Example:
BCIS bags medals in NEPEESA quiz bee
(1 deck)
10 more cops wanted
for Maguindanao massacre
(2 decks)
 Unit counts

 A count system considers differences in the

widths of letters.
Small letters:
Capital letters:
m, w – 1 ½ units
M, W – 2 units
jlift – ½ unit
JLIFT – 1 unit
others – 1unit
Others – 1 ½ units
 Unit counts

Punctuation marks
dash (–) – 1 ½ units
question mark (?) – 1 unit
others - ½ unit
Number digits
0 to 9 – 1 unit
Space – 1 unit
 Unit counts
BCIS bags medals in NEPPESA quiz bee
B C I S b a g s
1½+1½+1+1½+1+1+1+1+1+1
(11 ½ units)
m e d a l s i n
1½+1+1+1+1+1+1+½+1+1
(10 units)
 Unit counts
BCIS bags medals in NEPPESA quiz bee
N E P P E S A
1½+1½+1½+1½+1½+1½+1½+1
(11 ½ units)
q u i z b e e
1+1+½+1+1+1+1+1
(7 ½ units)
TOTAL = 11 ½ + 10 + 11 ½ + 7 ½ = 40 ½ units
 Printers direction
Example for the Headline:
25 - 32 – TNRB – 2 DS, FL
2 (32.5 u.c)

pica ems
Font size
Font style

number of lines
Example for the lead:
25 – 12 TNRB
2

Example for the body:

12 – 12 TNRN
1
Example for the lead:
25 – 12 TNRB
2

Example for the body:

12 – 12 TNRN
1
Thank You