Week 3: Assignment and Student Response

ThursdayApr 12 at 1:27pm

Manage Discussion Entry

Headlines are a major part of writing any news story. Without a capturing title, the reader will not even glance at the paper. Headlines should be clear and concise and straight to the point. It should be about the topic at hand and give insight as to what the reader is about to read next. “A good headline, in contrast, will tell the whole story. A reader should be able to judge a story by its headline.” (Kershner). I used the Atlanta Journal Constitution as my local newspaper and on the front page was the story titled, ‘Gunman in 6-hour standoff with Atlanta police is dead.’ Automatically, I knew from the headline the basic w’s of what the story was about. The writer of the story told the story in chronological order, starting from the beginning, instead of the result and working its way backwards. The headline captured my initial interest because crime stories always interest me. At times, crime writers can start a story off well, but then lose my interest during the middle. This writer kept my attention the whole time. While reading the story, it felt like I could visualize everything that had happened.

Visually, the headline is large and bold. The words alone captured my attention. The book states that, “A headline of fewer than four words is usually too brief and requires more explanation. A headline of more than eight words is usually too wordy.” (Kershner). The story had eight words, but I do not feel as if it was too wordy at all. If the headline was any shorter, I believe that it would have been too vague.

-Kendra

References:

Kershner, J. W. (2012). The elements of news writing. Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon