copy reading and headline writing in FIL
- 1. What is Copy reading? The art of arranging, correcting, and selecting the quality and type of news. It is also called copy editing.
- 2. What is Copy reading? The material to be edited can be a news story, a feature article, an editorial, sports story or a literary piece.
- 3. One who edits a copy is called a copy reader. His work is to go over the story and makes necessary corrections and revisions in the copy to improve it.
- 4. What should be copy read? •Errors in facts •Errors in grammar •Mechanics •Errors in Structures •Libelous materials •Editorializing statements
- 5. What should be copy read? •Rebellious materials •Verbal deadwoods •Redundant words
- 6. Examples of redundant words • The agency closes its door at 9AM in the morning. • My son will send me a free gift on my birthday. • Gov. Santos wrote a biography of his life months ago.
- 7. Guidelines for copy editing •Use standard copyreading/proof reading symbols •Always use a pencil when editing, never a pen •Type an end sign “30” or # at the end of the story
- 12. Everyone commits mistakes, that is why pencils have erasers.
- 13. HEADLINE WRITING • Headlines are windows of newspapers •It is the title of the news story •It summarizes the whole news story
- 14. FUNCTIONS OF HEADLINES • To tell the story in capsule To attract readers To add variety of type To identify personality of the newspaper To grade the news
- 15. Tips in Headline Writing Read the story for general understanding Clues to the headline are usually in the lead What happened? Who did what? How did it happen?
- 16. Tips in Headline Writing Use the present tense if the verb is in the active voice House panel Oks hybrid Con-con Omit the helping verb if the verb is in the passive voice Drug pushers nabbed Use the infinitive for future event Agricultural firms to help farmers
- 17. Tips in Headline Writing Don’t use names unless the person is well known Use specific terms instead of generalities DECK Number of lines in headline Agricultural firms to help farmers (one deck) Virology agency to better equip (two decks) Philippines vs emerging diseases
- 18. Kinds of headlines •Both lines are flushed to the left margin Senate health committee to look into cholera outbreak Drop line/step form – first line is flushed left while the second one is indented Senate health committee to look into cholera outbreak Inverted pyramid School launches YES-O drive
- 19. Kinds of headlines •Hanging indention- flushed line is followed by two indented parallel lines Senior editor bats for more progress report Cross line/barline- one line headline that runs across the column Ex-PNP Chief, nanumpa sa DOH
- 20. Kinds of headlines Box headline Half box headline Senate health committee to look into cholera outbreak Senate health committee to look into cholera outbreak
- 21. Rules in writing headlines ● Make the headline as short as possible. Ideally, maximum of six words. ● Make sure that it answers as many Ws as possible ● The headline should summarize the story. ● It should not contain that cannot be found in the story. ● Positive headlines are preferable than the negative ones.
- 22. Rules in writing headlines ● Use the strongest word in the first line as much as possible. ● Do not begin a headline with a verb, preposition , conjunction or article ● Avoid the verb to be ● Use present tense in the headline • describing the past events ● Use future tense in the headlines to describe future events.
- 23. Rules in writing headlines •Use numbers in headlines only when necessary •Do not abbreviate days of the weeks in headlines •Substitute comma for the headline instead of conjunction and •Use single quotation in headline •Use the active voice •Use abbreviations only for known personalities
- 24. Rules in writing headlines ● Write numbers in figures Thirty students - 30 students Twenty million pesos -20M ● Omit articles( a, an, the) and all forms of be(is, are, was, were, am, etc.
- 25. Unit counting in headlines ● Unit counting is important to avoid fat head, thin head or bleeding head ● All small letters except jilft and mw are counted as 1. ● Small letters jilft are counted as ½. ● Small letters m and w are counted as 1 ½ ● All capital letters are counted as 1 ½ except for MW ● Capital letters M and W are counted as 2 ● Capital letters JILFT are counted as 1.
- 26. Printer’s Direction Serves as guide to the printing press LPG prices down this month Font size/ font family 48 B Arial 26 unit counts headline Type of headline cross line/barline
- 27. Some types of fonts used in headline writing Helvetica, Times New Roman, Calibri, Constantia, Arial, Garamond, Gothic, Book Antigua, etc.
- 28. “Success is achieved and maintained to those who try and keep trying.” Thank you for listening! Ms. ZENAIDA G. ARCENA Retired Head Teacher in English