LECTURE NOTE 1V

BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO

2013/2014 NEWSPAPER EDITING, LAYOUT AND DESIGN

LECTURE NOTE 1V

FRONT PAGE DESIGN

There are generally three types of front page design, viz:

1.      Signal and Text Front Page: using this design, a selection of news items judged as most important by the editorial group are signal both in terms of positioning and headline in clear scale of importance and supported with text. Other less important news stories and features are placed inside the newspaper. Most broadsheets follow this style. Almost all the Western newspapers including the New York Times, The London Times etc adopt this style.

                

The text on this type of front page design begins at the beginning and goes on to the end preferably on the same page. The page may sometimes contain only one story.

2.      The Poster Front Page: the idea of front page as the urgent conveyor of news is carried to its logical extreme by publishing as many groups of news signals as possible to the exclusion from the front page of supporting text. The detail is carried inside with other editorial categories.  French and Latin American Newspapers employ this technique. The poster front page particularly suited tabloids because it allows for the display of many stories on the front page.

 

3.      Variation and Combination Pattern: This is just a moderated version of first and second. Under this design, short summary accompanied each headline. The two front page styles discussed above can be moderated to varying degrees. The extreme poster front page can be moderated by giving a short summary with each headline. This should be a self contained summary rather than the beginning of the full story.

On the other hand, a signal-and- text front page can be moderated by introducing a poster element thus the page can contain a capsule of news which dealt with in full inside. Each capsule can be self-contained. The summary index provides a useful summary for the busy reader

 

    Variation and Combination pattern

FILLING THE REMAINING SPACES

Small spaces always remain because not all stories fit precisely. These remaining spaces are filled in two ways: if the space is large enough, fillers may be used and if the space is relatively small, leading is added between paragraphs until the column is filled. If there is time, a story may be filled by a new copy.

Fillers are short stories type in advance or pictures and leading is a space between paragraphs.

WRITING NEWSPAPER HEADLINE

The one thing that can make or break a newspaper article is the headline. A good newspaper headline is concise, informative and, at times, entertaining. When you write a newspaper headline, your goal is to hook the reader into reading the article.

A headline summarises an article. It generally goes above the story and it is written in active voice, so readers can quickly get the gist of an article without reading the whole piece. It's often said amongst journalists that the purpose of a headline is to clarify, beautify (the page) and summarise the entire story

ü  Headline Function

o   Attracts reader’s attention

o   Summerise the story

o   Help the reader index the content of the story

o   Depicts the mood of the story

o   Set the tone of the story

o   Provide adequate typographical relief (separating stories on a page

ü  Headline Writing Process

Writing headlines is a challenging art. A headline has to be written to the exact amount of space allotted to it (words cannot be hyphenated to spill over to the next line) and it needs to be as accurate as possible. At some papers, headline writers are paid very well.

a)      Reread your article; identify the underlying theme.

b)      Express the theme in an active voice using as few words as possible. Active verbs lend immediacy to a story. If a reader sees a headline written in a passive voice, he or she might glance right over it.

c)      Keep your headline in present tense.

d)     Keep it simple. A headline is a short, direct sentence without extra adjectives or adverbs.

e)      Provide enough information in the headline to give the casual reader an impression of the entire story.

Types of Headline

Different types of headlines are used in journalism; the specific type used is based on the structure of the news story. Print media is geared toward informing the public on various topics. An important aspect in getting and holding the attention of the public is through the use of attractive headlines, no longer than one, two or in some cases three lines.

The following are some of the commonly used headlines:

Flush Left Headline

This is one of the more modern headline forms in use. It consists of two or three lines of headline, each one set flush left to the left side of the space. The design is simple and allows freedom in writing the headline. No rules govern the writing of the flush left headline; however a uniform style for better results is generally adopted. This type of headline is popular because it is easy to write, allows flexibility in unit count and provides a feeling of airiness to the page with the white space.

Banner Headline

The journalism industry is highly competitive, and attracting the attention of the readers, viewers or listeners is the most important thing. The audience should have a reason for choosing a particular newspaper. Headlines play an important role in attracting attention, especially in print media. Banner headlines are words printed in extra large letters across the top of the cover page of the newspaper. Startling banner headlines that describe in a few words a happening story can help increase sales.

Inverted Pyramid Headline

There are distinct advantages to using the inverted pyramid headline style for news writing. People often are in a rush and seldom have time to read every word of a story. The advantage of the inverted pyramid headline is that it concentrates on presenting pertinent facts first. With inverted pyramid stories, the most important information goes in the first paragraph, and the less important information follows to the very end of the story. The inverted pyramid headline shorter than the first line. The headline is created from the informative facts presented at the start of the story.

Cross-Line Headline

The cross-line headline is quite similar to a banner headline. While it is a large headline, it does not span the entire width of the page, but it does run across all the columns of the story it pertains to. The cross-line headline is one of the simplest types of headlines, consisting of a single line and one or more columns in width. It can run flush on both sides of the paper or it can have the words centered over the columns. This type of headline is generally used when there is more than one column for a story and to produce a formal look.

Kicker headline

The kicker is a small headline above the main headline usually written in a smaller typeface. The main purpose of this type of headline is to introduce or explains the main headline. Eg.

2012 Budget:

Reps invite Aviation Minister

A Rider Headline

Rider headline is a headline casted below the main headline. It is used to give amplification or raise another important point in the same headline. Eg.

Moves to impeach Plateau governor begins
  House sacks Speaker

Common Headline Problems

The headline must be as accurate as the story itself. Like inaccurate stories, inaccurate headline invite Libel suits and destroy one of the newspaper’s/magazine’s most valuable commodities- its credibility.  The most common headlines problems are:

v  Lack of understanding the story

v  Overstating

v  Confusing facts with speculation

v  Commanding (those that start with verb)

v  Editorializing

v  Sensationalizing

v  Boring the Reader

v  Rehearsing the old news

v  +Missing a dimension

v  Using ambiguous words

Counting the Headline

Headlines are meant to fit into spaces allocated to them. The process of doing this is known as headline counting. The characters in the headline are counted to fit the allotted space. In counting the headlines, all lower cases are counted as 1 unit except for f,i,l,j,t which are counted as ½ and m & w which are counted as 1½. Upper cases are counted as 1½ unit, but l is counted as 1 while M & W are counted as 2 units each. Punctuation marks and numerals are also counted as ½.

Characters	Unit Counted
a,b,c,d,e,g,h,k,n,o,p,q,r,s,u,x,y,z	1
F,i,j,l,t	½
A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,J,K,L,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,X,Y,Z	1½
I	1
M & W	2
Spaces between words	½
Numerals 2,3,4...	1
Numeral 1	½
Punctuation marks .,:;()	½

   

Headline Rules

Most of the serious Editors distribute list of rules to his staff. These list are meant to be adhered strictly to but, as one Editor rightly ordered his staff that his rule No. One any of his rule can be broken if the headline writer has a valid reason to do so. His lists are:

1.      Draw your headline from information near the top of the story. If the story has a punch ending, don’t give it away in the headline

2.      Build your headline around key words- those that must be included

3.      Build on words in the story, paraphrasing if necessary

4.      Emphasize the positive unless the story demands the negative

5.      Include subject and predicate

6.      Try to use a verb in the top line

7.      Maintain neutrality

8.      Remember the rules of grammar and observe them

9.      Try to capture the flavour of the story

10.  Make certain your headline is easy to read

11.  Abbreviate sparingly

12.  Verify the accuracy of your headline and be certain it has no double meaning

13.  Verify the count of each line

14.  Use short and simple words

15.  Never begin a headline with a verb

16.  Phrase your headline in the present tense if possible

17.  Don’t use slangs

18.  Don’t write question head

19.  Don’t pad headline with unnecessary words

20.  Don’t mislead the Reader