Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-01-13
HEADllAER BEST 1
READ OF AUTHORS
1t is for him to Tell the Busy
Reader the News of the
Day in a Few Words.

o ouIhoio WuoSS WRITINGS are
read by the greatest number of per.
sons are the headline writer's for the
daily newspapers. The writer's of the
best sellers among books do not com.
pare with them.
For advertising purposes 1t is Gus,
tomary to assume that every COPY of
a newspaper Is seen by five readers.
al thls assumption Is correct every
copy OF newspaper of quarter of
million daily circulation is seen by
million and a quarter of readers.
III anything In newspaper is read
1t is the headlines.
Writers Of books, of maglzine artI.
cles, of much of the matter I'm the
weekly and daily papers write at
their leisure. The news reports for
tile daily press are, part of them
written hurriedly. The news head
lines are written with but little time
for thought.
Nearly every newspaper has It's
own style of headlines, permitting the
use of only a certain number of let
tiers, or within few letters of that
number, In line. This requirement
engages the attention Of the headline
writer and occupies part OF the brief
time In which he has to do his work
Yet much depends upon the ready
skill and ability of the headline man
No matter how sewsy and bright a
paper may be. 1t can be made to ap.
pear uninteresting and dull IL the
neadllnes do not come up to the level
OF the text.
And, too, the conscientious headline
nnf l.
text does not bear out In the brief
time at his disposal, in the limited
space at his command and within the
restrictions imposed by the headline
style and Typography of his paper he
must make the most of the material
which he Is to introduce to the reader.
Within the memory of newspaper
workers and readers not yet old there
have been great changes in headline
methods. A style of headline that
was 30 common half century ago
as to be almost universal may be
characterized as the wooden head, for
example: COMMON COUNCIL.
PROCEEDINGS; Resolutions Adopt.
ed. Motions Carried and Ordinances
Passed"
A radical departure from this was
the catch word title, heading that
was intended to Ncatch the attention
OF the reader by setting forth in
word, usually In large black letters
followed by one or more scare marks,
the nub of the story beneath it. as,
for instance: "SMASHUP!" followed
by lines In smaller type explaining
that there had been n collision of rail,
way trains somewhere. This style OF
head is still used by some newspaIt RS.
in an aggravated form and sometimes
with colored inks.
Another sort of headline that was
In use some twenty years ago much
more than now may, for want of a
more accurately descriptive word, be
termed the ingenius head. The MAX
ing Of 1t required some ingenuity in
combining words, SO that by sight or
sound or by both they would attract
attention to the text, and little wit
in the head of the writer was a help
to him.
An example of this sort of headline
which will fairly illustrate the mean.
ing was written over a story from
New Jersey town telling of ghost
scare that provided to be the work
of some mischevious individuals. The
top line was :"Hocuspocus In Hobo.
kus."
The latest scheme of newspaper
headlines which has been generally
adopted is to set forth the most inter.
esting feature of the story in the top
line, and in the subsequent lines to
tell the story as fully as the space
devoted to the heading will permit
This gives the pith of the news to
the reader who perhaps only glances
at tho headlines.
With this style of head usually goes
summary of the story in the open
ing paragraph. With the headlines
and this paragraph the reader gets the
story in brief from beginning to end,
and in what follows he gets the de-
tails. If he is sufficiently interested to
read on. ra.s