COPY READING and HEADLINE WRITING Dr. Pelagia Detabbali,P-1 Facilitator

Editing a copy is not just a simple task of correcting errors in grammar and facts. Unchecked data, which often injected in the copies submitted by neophyte writers, if unnoticed, could put both story and the paper in the bad light.

Modern page deg can now be done through the special kind of computer software. It has a spell check and thesaurus capability, making the work of the copy editor easier.

Functions of Copy Editor 1. Check facts. 2. Correct errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, organization and others. 3. Improve news values. 4. Write effective lead. 5. Cut or delete irrelevant materials. 6. Delete “editorializing materials” in a news. 7. Guard against libelous statements. 8. Write headlines and decide its typography.

9. Make copy simple and clear.

10. Make copy conform to the newspaper style sheets. 11. Give instruction to the typesetter regarding font type and font size to be used and the number of columns and ems. 12. Indicate corrections by using the copyreading marks.

Copyreading Procedures 1. Double or triple space-typewrite all copy on standard 8 ½ by 11-inch paper. The spaces between the lines are for writing corrections. 2. In the upper left-hand corner of the paper, about onehalf inch from the top, write your name and a guideline or slug to indicate the nature of the story. For example “kidnap” for news about kidnapping, “typhoon” for a typhoon story and “GMA” for news about Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The slug is used for identification and for record purposes.

3. Start typing the story about three or four inches from the top of the page, leaving one-inch margin at the left and right sides. The wide margin at the top is for instruction to typesetter and for headline. 4. Indent five or ten spaces at the start of each paragraph. 5. End each page with a paragraph. Do not cut paragraph and continue on the next page. 6. Write “more” at the bottom of the page of unfinished story and continue on the next sheet. Do not use the back page of the paper. 7. On the second page, instead of numbering as page 2, label it “first add” or “add one” followed by the slug. Example, “first add kidnap” or “add one kidnap”.

8. End the story with number 30 or (#). 9. After typing the story, though the use of soft-leaded pencil and copy reading marks, correct errors and improve it. 10. If the copy could hardly be read because of so many corrections, retype it if time permits to facilitate editing and typesetting.

Copyreading Marks philippines

Capitalize letter

My Brother

Change to small letter

7

Mrs.

Spell out

Twenty – four

Friday

beautifullady

Change to figures

abbreviate

Separate words

Life is a wonderful gift from god and die. Life is a wonderful No Human nature dictates

Indent as a new paragraph

cchangess Delete beginning and ending letters

Start a new paragraph Reorient our our values

No paragraph new the teacher ^

Delete word and bridge over Insert word

life new

Repenttaance

Sal vation

Transpose letters or words

Delete letter or letters within

Close up

You can never be great unless you are good Indent material

Stream in the desert

Punto de Vista

Set in bold face

Set in italic type

Mirror of life

stet

Huwan dela Serna

Center material

broad day light Stay as is

Spell as written

It was decided by by the group

The road to greatness more

Elementary algebra the book he , is using

Run in copy

Unfinished story

Insert comma

There is more to

There is more to General Santos City than General Santos City than meets the eye, for amidst its meets the eye, for amidst its economic grandeur lies economic grandeur lies its cultural treasures. its cultural treasures. Move text to the down Move text up

The whole paragraph is full of errors, not only in grammar but also in information.

There is more to General Santos City than meets the eye, for amidst its economic grandeur lies its cultural treasures.

Delete many lines or paragraphs

Move text to the right

There is more to General Santos City than meets the eye, for amidst its economic grandeur lies its cultural treasures.

Move text to the left

bf Heyo kem daw.

lf

There is more to General Santos City than meets the eye, for amidst its economic grandeur lies its cultural treasures.

Good day

In bold or light face Set

Align text at the right margin

There is more to General Santos City than meets the eye, for amidst its economic grandeur lies its cultural treasures.

Align text at the left margin

end.

30

end.

#

End marks

To insert punctuation period

.

exclamatory point

opening quote

parentheses

colon

comma

closing quote

hyphen

semicolon

question mark

apostrophe

dash

?

Headline Writing News has no titles but headlines. Headlines are windows of the newspapers as they serve as the quick source of information for busy readers. Summarizing complex story and arranging them in a limited space on the page entails the creative skills of the copy editor.

Objective of the Newspaper Headlines 1. To attract the readers 2. To tell the readers what the news is all about

3. To persuade the readers to read as many individual stories as possible 4. To add variety and attractiveness to the page 5. to create distinction or personality of the newspaper

Qualities of a Good Headline 1. It attracts the reader’s eye and directs its attention to the story beneath it. 2. It is concisely constructed to save space. Articles and other unnecessary words are omitted.

3. It must be positive and active. Active verb in the present or future tense is used because aside from being a short word, it is also the tense of immediacy and it is more vivid. 4. It is adjusted to a predetermined typographical style of paper.

Steps in Headline Writing 1. Read the whole story to understand its message.

2. Underline key words as its lead, for headline writing. 3. Using the key words from the lead, write a short telegraphic sentence summary of the news.

4. Use the shortest word possible. Substitute simple effective synonyms to fit the headline within the allotted space. 5. Divide it according to unit of thoughts into the number of required lines or decks. 6. Use colorful noun and vigorous and active verb. 7. Start with noun followed by a verb.

Kinds of Headline 1. Flush left – two more lines of headline are aligned at the left edge of the column Example: Malacañang considers Abat adventure over 2. Flush right – two or more lines of headline are aligned at the right edge of the column Example: Malacañang considers Abat adventure over

3. Dropline – two or three lines of headline, usually of the same length and arranged diagonally Example: Dole Philippines donates arm chairs to Sarangani 4.

Hanging indention – usually three or more lines of headline, the first line set flush to both margins and the succeeding lines are indented or beginning several spaces in from the left margin, thus hanging as if from the first

Example: Military ready to step in if anti-gov’t protest turn violent

5. Crossline or barline– a single line of headline, running over two or more columns Example: Grenade blast kills 2 kids 6. Inverted pyramid – two or three lines of headline with the first line flushed to both margin and succeeding lines getting shorter and centered Example: Deped sets new guidelines for teacher-applicants

7. Flushline or full line – consist of two or more lines of the same length Example: Garci names solons who also called him 8. Streamer– striking boldface head extending across the top of the page 9. Umbrella – a streamer that is placed at the very top of the page above the nameplate of the newspaper. 10. Binder – a streamer at the top of an inside page 11. Boxed head– the headline is boxed either for prominence or to avoid tombstoning

a. full box

ICT to generate 1M jobs

b. half box

ICT to generate 1M jobs

c. quarter box ICT to generate 1M jobs 12. Jump head (run-over head) – headline of a news story, which is cut and continued on the inside page; it is followed by the words from page _ or the like 13. Subhead – a short title of a portion of news story to break the monotony of gray text; set in boldface and occupies more than half the column width

14. Tagline, kicker or teaser – a short single line placed above the main head, may be of smaller type, underlined and set flush left or centered 15. Hammer – if the tagline or kicker is bigger than the headline

Guidelines for Writing Headlines 1. The head should tell the gist of the story simply and accurately. 2. It should contain a verb, but not start with one. 3. Be in the active voice. 4. Be in the present, historical present or the future tense. 5. Avoid the use of articles to begin headline. 6. Use no abbreviation except those generally known ones.

7. The first line of two-line or three line headline should not end with a preposition, conjunction, articles or any form of the verb to be, unless the preposition goes with the verb, as in the word call up. 8. Be specific. Avoid generalities. Wrong: Student wins contest Right: Metrian scribe wins nat’l essay writing tilt 9. Avoid label head. Wrong: Auctioned Right: Imelda jewelry auctioned 10. Do not editorialize your headline. Wrong: Metrian shows great performance in DSPC Right: Metrian wins 6 out of 7 in DSPC writing contest

11. Do not use the same word twice in the headline or kicker. Example:

Gun haul GenSan cops seize 24 guns from suspected bandits 12. Never use the word “may”. It denotes the uncertain element of the story. 13. To use direct quotation as head, use any of the following forms instead of the traditional quotation marks: a. Using the dash instead of the quotation mark. Example: Truth commission repugnant - Mirriam

b. Using the colon Example: Sto. Tomas: Brain drain just a prescription c. Using narrative form Example: Garci is back, says wife

14. Do not be in the negative. Wrong: Metrian festival won’t be held Right: Metrian festival cancelled 15. The first letter of the word and proper nouns are generally capitalized. 16. Avoid awkward verbal breaks. Wrong: Gensan SPED bebaters nat’l tilt in Manila Right: Gensan SPED debaters Nat’l tilt in Manila 17. Mention only the name of person, who is prominent. Wrong: Jacoba wins Microsoft global award Right: Filipino wins Microsoft global award

18. Use M for million and B for billion. Example: Philhealth lost P520M to fraudulent claim, says chief 19. Use comma instead of and. Example: GMA, Bush skip rape issue in Busan meet 20. Separate double headline by a semicolon. Example: Bomb explodes at GenSan Market; 13 killed, 53 hurt 21. Do not end the headline with a period. 22. Use the infinitive for future events. Example: GMA to visit Saudi on way to NY 23. Avoid splitting compound word Wrong: GMA to award taxi driver for honesty

Right: GMA to award taxi driver for honesty 24. Avoid splitting words that naturally go together Wrong: Metrian celebrate Buwan ng Wika with beauty tilt Right: Metrians hold Buwan ng Wika with beauty contest 25. Do not mix up typefaces in making headlines to avoid clutter. Do not use four to eight kinds of fonts of headlines on a page. The maximum font type that can you can use on a page is two unrelated fonts except for features stories.

Guidelines in Determining Headline Size The size of the headline usually gives the idea of how significant a story is. Here is a list of short guidelines in determining headline size: 1. A short four-inch story needs only one column. A one column headline needs one or three decks of word depending on text length. Try using two decks, 24 points. 2.

Stories of four to six inches may run in one or two columns. Get headline types of 24 to 30 points in a single or double decks of words.

3. Stories from six to 12 inches deep will take a multicolumn headline of 36 points or bigger typeface depending on the width of the headline of the headline typeface.

Rules in Acronym Acronym is derived from the combination of the first letters or syllables of the words or name of an organization. Here are the rules to follow. 1. For four-letter acronym and below, all letters should be capitalized like in WHO for World Health Organization, UN for United Nations, MILF for Moro Islamic Liberation Front. 2. For more than four-letter acronym, only its first letter is capitalized like in Asean for Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Unicef for United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.

3. For syllabic acronym, the first letter of each syllable of the words should be capitalized like in DepEd for the Department of Education, GenSan for General Santos City and SoCSKSarGen for South Cotabato-Sultan Kudarat-Sarangani-General Santos.

Mechanics for Headline Writing The next job of the copy editor after developing the headline is to see to it that it fits on the allotted space on the page. He now gives the necessary technical instruction to the layout man on what font type and size to be used and how it should be presented on the page. Example: 2-20TNRB W/KICKER

Number 2 means the head will run across two columns of the page. Number 20 stands for the font size to be used. TNRB refers to the font type Times New Roman Bold and KICKER means a preliminary head. The line below refers to the number of line or deck the headline will have. The final headline will look like this: Gawad Pangulo sa Kapaligiran

GenSan braces for top slot Unit Count in Headline All small letters (except j,l,I,f,t,m and w) Small letters j,l,I,f,t,m Small letters m and w All capital letter (except j,l,I,f,t,m and w) Capital letter I Capital letters M and W

=1 unit =1/2 unit =1 ½ unit =1 ½ unit =1/2 unit = 2 unit

All punctuation marks (except the dash, question mark, dollar, peso, and per cent sign) =1/2 unit Dash, question mark, dollar, peso and percent sign =1 unit All number figures from 0 to 9 (except 1) = 1 unit Number 1 = ½ unit All spaces =1 unit Example: 1 1/21 1 1 1 11 11 ½ 1 1 ½ 11½½½ 1 111 ½ 1 1

Grenade blast kills 2 kids = 23 ½

Qualities of an Effective Headline Writer 1. He has an accurate perception of the story. The headline writer must be able to see the story clearly and strip it down to its essentials. 2. He has must have a vocabulary that is both broad and deep. He must possess not only a vocabulary of many words but a precise knowledge of word meanings, keen sense of their connotations. A thorough knowledge of colloquial and even slang if necessary. 3. He has a sharp sense of sentence structure. Sentences take many structures. The headline writer should have a keen sense not only with his choice of words but also in the choice of structures.

4. He has a keen eye for ambiguity. He must always his readers in composing headline. What is unclear to him will also be unclear to his readers.

Headline Vocabulary 1. Accord – agreement 2. Allay – calm 3. Allot – apportion, set aside 4. Anew – again 5. Assail – attack 6. Ax – dismiss 7. Bare – reveal, expose 8. Bat – defend 9. Bid – request 10. Blast - criticized

11. Cite – enumerate, mention 12. Confab – conference 13. Cop – police 14. Cow - frighten 15. Crown – win 16. Curb – control,stop 17. Cut – decrease 18. Dip – decrease, decline 19. Draw fire – to be criticized 20. Dry run - rehearsal

21. Due – deadline, scheduled 22. Ex – former 23. To eye – consider 24. feud – quarrel, dispute 25. foil – thwart, reject 26.Gab – conference 27.Gird – brace, prepare 28. go – try 29. grill – question, interrogate 30. hail – welcome 31. hike – increase 32. Hit – attack 33. Inquiry – investigation 34. ink – to sign a contract 35. junk – to throw way, decline 36. kin – family 37. kit - package

38. letup – temporary ea 39. link – connect 40. lull – calm 41. meet – conference, to convene 42. megman – movie director 43. memo – memorandum 44. mull – plan, to think of 45. mum – silent 46. Nab – arrest 47. nix – reject 48.Okay – approve accept 49. peg – to fix at a certain amount or level 50. pit – oppose 51. post – position, to assign 52. power – electricity 53. probe – to investigate

54. prod – prick 55. quit – resign 56. quiz – question 57. ratify – approve 58. raze – destroy 59. revamp – to change, reshuffle 60. rift – disagreement 61. row – dispute, disagreement 62. rule – decide, decision 63. sans – without 64. scan – examine 65. scribe – newspaperman 66. shakeup – reshuffle 67. skip – avoid 68. slay – kill, assasinate 69. solon – lawmaker 70. try - attempt