It is not what it is made of but what it does. It highlights prioritisation, assists in navigation , and to a lesser extent, is responsible for signing or naming. These elements are therefore the basics of all news items . Text can be changed in certain simple ways which provide visual cues to the reader signifying a difference. Its size can be changed, it can be serif or san serif font.
Size changes as item changes.
Changes in size might signify a beginning, or might aim to catch attention, aiding the reader's navigation of the news-space and location of items within it. Certain tabloid items have headlines bigger than the body text, the slogan effect of the headline is therefore emphasised because there is not much more information to be read.