{"id":5662,"date":"2020-10-30T14:28:21","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T14:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/?p=5662"},"modified":"2024-04-20T14:12:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T14:12:58","slug":"fun-facts-77-headline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/blog\/2020\/10\/30\/fun-facts-77-headline\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Facts About English #77 – The History of Headlines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Kinney<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe headline screamed at him as soon as he saw the paper. He almost screamed back.\u201d
\u2015 Terry Pratchett, Going Postal<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The familiar large-type, front-page headline<\/em> didn’t come into use until the later 19th century as increased competition among newspapers led to the need for attention-grabbing headlines. This practice has successfully carried over from print news to online news with “screaming” headlines urging you to click through and read more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click on the image to see larger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Headlines<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some of the most famous, creative, and notorious headlines take us back in history, provide a window into the state of the culture, and can even shape our collective response. Though the idea of a creative guy with his feet on a desk being paid to brainstorm snappy headlines works well in the movies, the reality of the business is staider with a hierarchy of accountability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The headline is often the duty of copy editors. Writers may suggest a headline, but beyond word count, they may know little about the space in the paper and how the story will appear. A section editor or editor-in-chief may overrule the copy editor before the layout becomes final. Collectively, their efforts don’t go unrecognized – or ridiculed if bold errors are made. In the United States, headline contests are sponsored by the American Copy Editors Society<\/a> and the National Federation of Press Women<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because a physical newspaper’s above-the-fold, front-page real estate is the most valuable, newspapers developed a set of grammatical rules for an abbreviated or compressed telegraphic style known as headlinese<\/em>. The syntactic conventions include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n