The headline is the most important part of any news report. Readers decide if the rest of the report is worth reading based on the headline. So a headline should be an incentive to read further. Most times, however, the headline is a one-line summary of the report, which actually defeats its purpose. How many people have said that they scan headlines only, rather than read the full reports? And how many say that they read the report because of the headline and got thoroughly disappointed because the headline had over-promised?
So you see how important the headline-writer is to a media organisation. I would think this particular journalist is more important than the reporter or writer who delivered the content because he or she is actually doing the “marketing’’.
And no, the reporter/writer isn’t the best person to write the headline, even if he or she knows the content inside-out. This journalist is just too close to the subject matter to write the headline; an outside eye is needed that will cut to the chase and in language that is sharp and precise even if not totally grammatical.
You can tell if a news report is worth reading by the quality of the headline. I very seldom read what is known as “label’’ headlines that are bereft of strong verbs. Usually, they accompany official messages like “Religious harmony is key to Singapore’s future’’. You can substitute “religious harmony’’ for any word or phrase that any newsmaker says is “key to Singapore’s future’’.
Try these : globalisation, law and order, going digital, productivity, investment in education, inclusiveness and sustainability.
You know on seeing such labels that you are about to read a lecture rather than a news report.
Of course, it could well be the lack of expertise on the part of the journalist who was unable to sharpen the news report to make it more significant or interesting. Good headline writers would look for clues in the content and come up with a line that would draw in readers. Failing which, a label headline is the “safest’’ headline which nobody can possibly quarrel with even if they are yawned at.
A question headline is also safe, although it is not a good practice as the job of the journalist is to give answers. So you read on to find the answer, which may or may not be contained in the report. Unless questions are of a Who shot JR? variety (sorry, I am of a certain vintage), they usually reflect the inability of the headline writer to capture the key point or an editor worried about how people, especially newsmakers, would over-read the headline and interpret it differently from what was intended.
There are headline writers who take the easy way out and just repeat the introductory paragraph of a report, even though it isn’t the main point of the story. I happen to think the Economist’s headline writers are superb because they capture the thrust of the report without even lifting any word from it.
Broadsheet, tabloid and online
The print medium is a headache for headline writers because of limited space which is further dictated by the hierarchy of importance of the news report. So you can’t fit many words into a headline for a smallish report. ‘Mad man bites big dog’ would be fine but not ‘Mentally-ill patient in savage attack on extra-large Rottweiler’.
For tabloids, strong, emotional and even judgmental words are prefered. Use capital letters and an exclamation mark and you will have a good tabloid word like BANG! There is, however, an expectation that tabloid headlines over-promise and under-deliver. So a man bites dog headline had better deliver a report about a man biting a real dog and not a stuffed toy.
Online, there is no space constraint online and the reader might well be reading whole sentences in a headline followed by a report of never ending length. (That’s why I prefer e-paper formats because I can estimate the length of time I need to finish reading an article – or to save it for later.)
The online version of a tabloid headline would be clickbaits, so called because you must be curious enough to click through for a full read. You get headlines like ‘10 things you never knew’’ about someone you think you know or are told that someone, preferably a celebrity, said or did something that was “UNBELIEVABLE!’’ And of course, there are headlines with certain keywords plonked in to help the website rise up the ranks of search engines. Search engine optimisation is whole different business altogether on which I am no expert. In my view, it’s marketing copy – not headline writing.
Comment headlines
What if the news report is about someone making a fresh or controversial point? If the headline writer wants to be kiasu, then he or she might use the newsmaker’s words and place them within quote marks. As well as attribute the source in the headline.
For example, Minister So-and-so : Singapore “not ready’’ for same sex marriages. In other words, the news media is making it clear that it is merely reporting what was said by the person. Imagine if the headline was: Singapore not ready for same sex marriages. A headline which is a comment that is not attributed would be viewed as fact – or an opinion held by the news media. You can write this, however, for a column, as any reader can tell that it is clearly the columnist’s point of view. Again, if the headline writer, columnist or editor does want to attract controversy, there is the usual fallback of a question headline: Is Singapore ready for same sex marriages?
Some headlines are no-brainers because the news is so powerful. I remember a headline in The New Paper which was “Deng Dies’’ on the death of China’s Deng Xiao Ping. Very to the point. Others lift an otherwise ordinary report, like this headline in The Straits Times when Singapore held its first street carnival in Orchard Road called Swing Singapore. The headline, written by an American consultant, was just one word: Swingapore!
I have seen plenty of good and bad headlines in the local media.
For the bad ones, you can trawl through #berthablowsup. It is a mix of the inane, the mundane and the thoroughly incomprehensible. I once spotted a headline which ended with a comma, and this was in print.
Some people like to have puns in the headlines. They think punny is funny. Some work while others fail miserably because they are inappropriate for the type and tone of content. You can Taylor Swift your way through headlines provided that the reports don’t deal with tragedy like, Swift end for tailor.
If you want to use her song lyrics, they must be so widely known that they can’t be shaken off.
Specialist news media believe that they can get away with jargon in headlines because they deal with a specific audience who would be otherwise offended by simplicity. They get technical and even punny. So sports page headlines can go offside or score own goals (whether it is about soccer or not) and financial pages can refer to bulls, bears and Goldilocks.
One of my favorite headlines actually appeared in the sports pages of ST in the days of tennis legend Boris Becker, also known as Boom Boom. He was caught having sex with a woman in a cleaning closet. The headline went: Becker Boom Boom in the Broom Room. I thought it was amazingly funny although you need to know a bit about the man to get the point.
The thing to note is: do specialist news media want to widen their reach or are they content to have the already-converted as their audience? The same can be said for news media which claim to serve younger audiences and therefore have headlines that include the trendiest words in youth speak and internet lingo as part of their editorial identity.
So long as the headline draws eyeballs of the audience it is serving, and is worthy of the content, I don’t have a problem with.
One test of a good headline: You should never have to read it more than once.
Bertha Harian 