Headlines In British And German Online Newspapers

headlines prove to be more dramatized. In the examples below, the death of the people is foregrounded, enhancing in this way the negativity and personalization of the events, which in turn makes the story more newsworthy. The story headlines do not foreground the same aspects of the event, which is clearly seen in the first example, where the headline focuses on the main actor of the news, the perpetrator and his action: H: At least four dead in Liège attack [The Guardian] S: Liège gunman in bloody assault on shoppers and commuters H: 27 dead in Nigeria church attacks [The Guardian] S: Church attacks in Nigeria leave at least 27 worshippers dead The drama of the event described is highlighted also in the example below, which underlines the negativity of the event, and the widespread nature of the phenomenon. The headline follows the ‘moral panic’ format, in which “an event is presented as a threat to the social and moral order, with a view to invoking public concern” (Fulton 2005: 234). It is the story headline that clarifies the context and provides a more detailed view of the situation: H: Schools fall short of government targets [The Independent] S: One eighth of primary schools fall short of government literacy and numeracy targets The examples provided above prove that the appeal of the homepage headlines is enhanced by the focus on negativity and conflict, which has already been underlined before. The headlines, in contrast to story headlines, tend to be more luring and striking, which is to enhance their persuasive and impressive function. The headlines also differ with respect to the perspective with which the event is viewed. Structurally this difference involves a change from passive to active voice, and the introduction of the main verb. The focus of the headlines changes – the homepage headlines focus on the main actor of the news, while the story headlines on the event itself. In this way, the news value of personification and human-interest perspective of the story is enhanced, which contributes to the newsworthiness of the story. These examples illustrate the above-mentioned decrease in the level of density: H: Assange appeal bid approved [The Independent] S: Court approves Julian Assange appeal bid H: Sacked doctor awarded £4.5m [The Independent] S: Tribunal awards hospital consultant Eva Michalak £4.5m The primary distinction between homepage and story headlines is that between a general, dense and compact form and an expanded message. Homepage headlines are tighter, with frequent omissions, with the content restricted to the key event described. In story headlines, by contrast, we may observe elaboration of content – information is expanded and more details are revealed. The key HEADLINES IN BRITISH AND GERMAN ONLINE NEWSPAPERS 479 event presented in the homepage headline is further illustrated and developed. This difference may be dictated by two major factors – by space constraints on the homepage and by the wish to offer the readers news in a compact form which can be processed quickly and effortlessly. Another distinction is that the homepage headlines prove to be more dramatized than the story headlines. This distinction is heavily associated with the promotional function of the headlines on the homepage. The focus on the drama, on the news values of negativity and/ or personification serve to enhance the newsworthiness of the reports, attract the readers and draw them into the stories.