1. The Craft of Headline Writing
Rachele Kanigel
The Student Newspaper Survival Guide

2. 10 Rules of Headline Writing
1. First, do no harm.

3. 10 Rules of Headline Writing
2. Be accurate.

4. 10 Rules of Headline Writing
3. Don’t just state the obvious.

5. 10 Rules of Headline Writing
4. Write clearly and succinctly, using
words real people use.

6. 10 Rules of Headline Writing
5. Use strong, active verbs.

7. 10 Rules of Headline Writing
6. Avoid bias.

8. 10 Rules of Headline Writing
7. Capture the essence of the story

9. 10 Rules of Headline Writing
8. Use the
appropriate
tone
for the story

10. 10 Rules of Headline Writing
9. Don’t cannibalize your lede.

11. 10 Rules of Headline Writing
10. Watch out for
unintended
puns.

12. What’s wrong with this headline?
Law profs
nix Thomas
Avoid “forced” abbreviations and headlinese
How often do you say “nix”?

13. What’s wrong with this headline?
Board of Education meets
So what happened? Report the news!

14. What’s wrong with this headline?
Potential witness
to murder drunk
It’s confusing. Is the potential witness going to murder a
drunk?
Oh, I get it. The witness to a murder was drunk.
Avoid unintentional double meanings.

15. What’s wrong with this headline?
Air head
fired
If an airline head was truly fired you wouldn’t write a flip
headline like this. Be sensitive.

16. What’s wrong with this headline?
Federal agents
raid gun shop,
find weapons
Duh!

17. What’s wrong with this headline?
Missippi’s literacy
program shows
improvement
Spell all words correctly!

18. What’s wrong with this headline?
Tiger Woods plays with own balls,
Nike says
Watch out for double meanings, especially sexual ones

19. What’s wrong with this headline?

20. What’s wrong with this headline?

21. What’s wrong with this headline?
Cop picks
open can
of worms
Another confusing one. Make sure it’s clear.
And avoid cliches, especially wordy ones.

22. Some good headlines:
• Dr. Seuss, man of rhyme and reason, dies
at 87
• Inmate Flees in Boxers, But Freedom is
Brief
• Off to Seize the Lizard (for a story on the
hunt for an escaped iguana)
• She Took Her Viola to France and ...
Voilà! (for a story on a foreign exchange
student)

23. Headline hints
• Think of a headline like a jigsaw puzzle.
• First come up with key words.
• Then free-associate around the key
words.
• For feature stories make a list of catch
phrases, movie titles, expressions that
relate to the key words.

24. After you have written a headline, ask:
• Does it tell the news clearly?
• If it's a news story, does the headline
contain the latest developments?
• If it's a feature story, does it convey the
basic sense of the story?
• Is it accurate and informative?
--From the American Press Institute
Headline checklist

25. Headline Checklist
• Is it compelling in approach, news angle
and impact?
• Does it contain concrete nouns and
active-voice, present-tense verbs?
• Does the tone fit the story, so that when
there is emotion or a human element,
irony or humor it is reflected in the head?

26. Headline Checklist
• Does it avoid the obstacles to clarity?
1. Jargon
2. Cliches
3. Obscure names and puns: Serious news
stories should not contain any puns.
4. Forced phrases
5. Headlinese
6. Abbreviations
7. Acronyms
8. Slang

27. Headline Checklist
• Does it have words or meanings that are
as precise as possible?
• Does it make each word count by being
direct and dense with information?
• Does it play fair by trying to reflect both
sides of a story if an opposing view exists,
or at least avoid overemphasizing one
point of view?

28. Headline Checklist
• Does it avoid danger of libel, take caution
with sensitive material and include
attribution when necessary?
• Does it include the "where" when
important? Does it signal any local
involvement in the news when it may not
be clear otherwise?
• Does it avoid elements of bad taste,
double meanings, exaggeration and
sensationalism?

29. Headline Checklist – Things to
Avoid
• Inappropriate language or a tone that
doesn't fit the story.
• Exaggerating conflict, danger,
criticism, etc.
• Editorialization or words that suggest
an opinion of the head-writer.
• A "negative" head using the word
"not.“

30. Headline Checklist – Things to
Avoid
• Inappropriate assumptions or
interpretations.
• Piled-up adjectives or other modifiers
that detract from clarity.
• Undue familiarity, often by using a
person's first name.
• Abbreviations or acronyms that are not
instantly recognizable.

31. Headline Checklist – Things to
Avoid
• Assumptions that the reader has been
following the story daily.
• Obscure names that readers won't
instantly recognize.
• A "label head," unless omitting the verb
helps the head or the count is so short
that a "book title" head is the only way
out.

32. Headline Checklist – Things to
Avoid
• Conclusions the story doesn't back up.
• Jargon, which clouds the meaning for
readers.
• Cliches, which are neither creative nor
compelling.
• Meanings the reader won't "get" until the
story is read.

33. Headline Checklist – Things to
Avoid
• Echoing the lede or stealing the
punchline.
• A hard-news head based on facts far
down in the story.
• Puns in heads on serious news stories.
• Putting first-day heads on second-day
stories.

34. Online headlines
• Must be more literal – be wary of puns,
vague references
• Think SEO; use searchable keywords
• Be clear
• Ask questions
• Be provocative

35. Example
• Bad online headline: Snowshoer, 66,
survives weekend lost in woods
• Good online headline: Mount Rainier
park official: Snowshoer found
alive

36. For more tips on headline writing
check out