ENGLISH RAILWAY STRIKE IS SETTLED BY LLOYD-GEORGE
Chancellor of Exchequer Hero of Britain, Eclipsing Asquith--Men to Return to Work at Once and No Discrimination to Be Shown.
Representatives of Workmen and Employers in Equal Numbers, With Impartial Chairman, to Have Supreme Authority.
Figure 1.--St. Louis _Post-Dispatch_ head. This form of head is well adapted to giving a synopsis of a big news story.]
Like the story, the head should be simple. Here again the short Anglo-Saxon words are the best. Indeed, the head writer is put to the necessity of using short words if he would make the head tell the story. The head is a mosaic. Words must be fitted into a certain fixed space, in such a way that the meaning will not be obscured. This is the head writer’s chief problem--to meet the mechanical requirements of the head and at the same time make the thought so plain that none can fail to understand. (See Figure 2.)
A cardinal rule of head writing is expressed in the curt injunction: Get action into the head. Make the head a statement of fact, not a mere label. Never say “Shocking Accident” or “Terrible Fire,” but tell what happened as specifically as possible. Try to get a verb in the head, either expressed or implied. This rule, like all others that have to do with newspaper work, is not to be applied literally under all conditions. Exceptions may often be made in handling the feature story. But in nine cases out of ten the best headline is one that states a complete thought in the simplest possible manner.
Others Escape Winthrop Fire in Nightclothes
Beach Section Threatened and Boston Gives Aid
Figure 2.--Conservative type of head, from the Boston _Transcript_. Notice that the second line of each deck after the first consists of a single word.]
As many ideas as possible should be crammed into the head. Hence the omission by most newspapers of “a,” “an” and “the,” and the rule against repeating important words. An article is used now and then to fill out a line, but rarely at the beginning of a line unless it is part of a title. The rule against the repetition of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs, which is enforced by practically all newspapers, not only makes for variety in the head, but insures definiteness by compelling the copy reader to seek out descriptive words to fit the idea. For example, the top part of a head chosen at random reads: “Graham to Give Value for Taxpayers’ Money.” The second deck says: “Banker Candidate Promises to Apply Business Methods to Office if He Is Elected Mayor.” Notice that the name Graham is not repeated, but that identifying words are used instead; he is the “banker candidate.” The head is thus made more specific and an additional idea is introduced. The statement that he will “give value for taxpayers’ money” is amplified and explained in the sentence following.