A headline news story sums up a topic in an enticing way, often answering the questions who, what, when, where and why. It also sets the tone for an article, influencing whether or not readers engage with its content. Straightforward headlines that accurately represent an article’s contents build credibility and trust, while clickbait-style headlines may be misleading and lead to reader disappointment.
In the digital age, headlines have become even more important as they are the text that search engines read. As a result, headlines need to be as interesting and engaging as possible, while still fitting into a set of space constraints. In addition, the first few words of a headline can be used as the title of an article’s url (Uniform Resource Locator), which is another reason for headlines to be as captivating as possible.
Writers of headline news may suggest ideas for the story’s headline, but editors generally decide which one to use due to space needs and other considerations. The headline writers share a lot of the same characteristics as advertising copywriters: they must be lively, entertaining and pithy in a very limited amount of space.
When writing a headline, start by determining its size using the headline count guide or the publication’s hed sked. Then, create a new text frame the size of the headline and begin typing. When finished, consult the hed sked or the header shorthand to ensure that the head will fit its column size and the number of lines of type in the story.