Lecture 1: Introduction to Journalism

The Birth of High School Papers in the Country (A Brief History)

 High School Student Publications are almost as old as the Philippine
public school system itself.
 The first mimeographed newspaper started in 1911-1912.
 Student publication was introduced in the country as an extracurricular
activity in public high schools shortly after its wide adoption in American
High Schools and colleges.
 The first regularly printed high school paper was the La Union Tab of La
Union High School. It was published in 1923.
 The first significant regulation governing the putting out of high school
papers was Circular Letter number 34 section 1929 issued by the
Bureau of Education signed by Director Luther B. Bewley.
 On October 22, 1945, Acting Executive Officer John H. Mcbridge Junior of
the Department of Instruction and Information sent a letter to all
division superintendents stating that school papers should consist
chiefly of articles about school activities.

The Birth of Manila City Schools Newspapers (The First School Papers)
 The first school paper in Manila public high schools was born in the
school year 1911-1912 and named The Coconut. It was a mimeographed
paper from the old Manila High School (Now Araullo High School) edited
by Carlos P. Romulo.
 Second in line was the Torres Torch of Torres High School. The maiden
issue made its bow in September 1930.
 Torres Torch’s birth was followed by the Mapazette of Mapua High School
and The Chronicler of Arellano High School, both in 1940.
 Formal classroom instruction in high school journalism began in 1952.
 Sarah England, an American teacher at Mapa High School experimented
with teaching journalism.
 Four other existing schools followed, such as Araullo, Torres, Arellano,
and Abad Santos. They offered journalism as a vocational subject held
on a daily double period.
 In 1964, Clehenia San Juan, then Head of English in Araullo High School,
was appointed Journalism supervisor.
 Journalism remained a vocational subject in the second year, an optional
subject in the third year, and an elective subject in the fourth year.
 In journalism classes, writers were trained to write various types of
news, feature stories, interviews, speech reports, editorials, editorial
columns, sports stories, critical reports, interpretative and depth news,
development news, and other forms of journalistic writing.

The Origin and Definition of Journalism

 The word journal comes from the Latin word diurnal which means daily.
 In ancient Rome, short bulletins of battles, fires and elections were
called acta diurnal which means daily events.
 Webster defines journalism as the occupation of writing for publication
in newspapers and other periodicals.
 Fraser F. Bond defines it as something that embraces all forms in which
or through the news and comments on the news reach the public.
  High School journalism has been defined by school paper advisers of the
City Schools of Manila as that enjoyable co-curricular activity of the
school paper staff in collecting, organizing, and presenting news all for
the purpose of putting out a school organ.

Scope of Journalism
 Journalism may be divided into three areas, written, oral, and visual.
 Written such as periodicals, newspapers, and magazines.
 A periodical is a publication that comes out at regular intervals (Daily,
weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, and annually)
 A newspaper, compared to a magazine, prints more news, has no
special cover, and is printed on a special paper called newsprint.
 A magazine prints more features and human-interest stories, has a
special cover, and is often printed on bookpaper. If ever news is
printed, it is brief and featurized.
 Radio falls under oral journalism, while television movies, and
documentaries are under visual journalism.
 Radio and television are examples of broadcast media, while movies
and documentaries are examples of film media.

Functions of the Campus Paper

 A campus paper is a publication, either, mimeographed or printed, put
out by staff members whose names appear in the masthead or
editorial box.

Functions of the Campus Paper (Aid to the students)

 Provides an opportunity for interesting writing.
 Gives the opportunity to learn how to read the newspaper.
 Acts as a stimulus to better work.
 Develops powers of observation and discrimination concerning relative
merits of news articles.
 Outlet and motivation for journalistic writing.
 Offers training in organization, business methods, commercial art,
bookkeeping, and management.
 Develops qualities of cooperation, tact, accuracy, tolerance,
responsibility, and leadership.

Functions of the Campus Paper (Aid to the school and community)

 Informs on the work of the school.
 Publishes school news.
 Expresses school opinion.
 Makes known the achievements of the school.
 Unifies the school.
 Encourages worthwhile activities.
 Develops right standards and conduct.
 Provides outlet for suggestions for betterment of school.
 Develops interschool relationship.
 Develops cooperation between parents and school.

Functions of the Campus Paper (Other functions that evolved in modern

campus paper)
 Information function
 Opinion function
 Education function
 Watchdog function
 Laboratory function
 Documentation function
 Entertainment function
 Developmental function

National Newspaper
 A newspaper is a printed publication that is published and sold at
regular intervals.
 Its main purpose is to provide news for its readers.
 It prints comments and opinions and entertains.
 A paper that is published every day is called a daily. Papers published
once a week are called weeklies.

Sections or Parts of a Campus Paper:

 Front page
 Editorial page
 Sports page
 Special features

Front Page

The following are parts of a community, a metropolitan or national paper that

may or may not be found in a campus paper:

Local News
 News that takes place within the country.
Foreign News
 News that takes place outside the country.
Dateline News
 An out-of-town news story introduced by a dateline that states the place
from which the story was reported, the date, and the source of material,
as San Fernando, Pampanga, January 25 (AP)
Weather News
 Usually, a boxed forecast of the area, which sometimes includes the
temperature, wind directions, and velocities. Extremes on weather are
reported as more detailed news stories.

The following parts are found on the front page of either a national or a campus
paper:

Nameplate
 Engraved or printed name of the paper.
Ears
 Little boxes on either side of the nameplate.
Banner
 Principal headline bearing the boldest and biggest type (Streamer)
 Running head
 Headline made up of two or more lines.
Headline
 Title of any news story.
Deck
 Subordinate headline placed immediately below its mother headline.
Lead
 Beginning of a news story.
News Story
 Whole story of an event composed of the lead, and text that elaborates
the lead.
Columns
 Horizontal division into parts of a paper.
Column rule
 Vertical line that divides the page into columns (Sunken rule)

Fold
 Imaginary horizontal line that divides the paper into two equal parts.
Byline
 Signature of a reporter preceding a news feature.
Box
 News material enclosed by line rules.
Cut
 Bears the paper’s illustration (Cliche)
Cutline
 Text accompanying photos and other artwork.
Kicker
 Tagline placed above but smaller than a headline.
Credit line
 Line giving the source of the story.

Editorial Page

Folio
 Consists of a page number, date of publication, and name of the paper
written on top of the page.
Masthead
 Editorial box containing the logo, names of staff members and
positions, publisher, and other pertinent data.
Editorial proper
 Commentary written by an editor who comments or gives the opinion
of the staff on various subjects. It is the stand of the paper.
Editorial column
 A personal opinion written by the columnist. It may attack, teach,
entertain, or appeal.
Editorial cartoon
 A caricature emphasizing a simple point. Usually humorous, it has the
function of the editorial. It stands by itself.
Editorial liner
 Short statement at the end of an editorial column.
Letter to the editor
  A letter sent in by the reader giving his personal views.

Sports Page
 Sports stories are classified as news stories. What may be found on
news page may also be found in the sports section.
 Other things that may be found in the sports section are sports
commentaries and sports features.

Special Features
 The modern campus publication is both a school and community paper.
For this reason, its content is similar to that of a metropolitan paper,
minus the business and agricultural sections, the shipping, movie,
television, and radio guides, the display, and classified advertisements.

Lecture 2: News Writing

News
 News is an oral or written report of a past, present, or future event. It should be
factual, truthful, accurate, unbiased, and interesting.
Elements of News

Conflict
 This may involve physical or mental conflict.
Immediacy or timeliness
 Emphasizes the newest angle of the story.
Proximity or nearness
 Refers to geographical nearness as well as to the nearness of kinship or
interest.
Prominence
 May involve prominent subjects by reasons of wealth, social position, or
achievements.
Significance
 Whatever is significant to the life of an individual is interesting to him.
Names
 Important names make important news.
Drama
 Adds color to the story. The more dramatic the actions are, the more
appealing the story is to the reader.
Oddity and unusualness
 Refers to strange or unnatural events, objects, persons, and places.
Romance and adventure
 The romance of prominent people makes good news.
Sex
 Usually related to stories of romance, marriage, and divorce. The
element of sex is also involved when a woman is elected president of a
country or when a woman robs a bank in daylight.
Progress
 The onward and forward march of civilization or the progress of a
country.
Animals
  Stories of animals, especially those with talents are good reading
matter.
Number
 Sweepstakes numbers, vital statistics, election results, scores in games,
casualties, price of goods, ages.
Emotion
 Includes various human responses and natural feelings.

Types of News (Scope of Origin)

Local news
 Report of events that take place within the immediate locality.
National news
 News that takes place within the country.
Foreign news
 News that takes place outside the country.
Dateline news
 News preceded by the date and place of origin or place where it was
written or filed in Tokyo, January 20 (AP)

Types of News (Chronology or Sequence)

Advance or anticipated
 News published before its occurrence, sometimes called dope or
prognostication. The reporter foretells events expected to occur at a
definite time in the future.

Spot news
 News that are gathered and reported on the spot. It deals with
unscheduled information demanding immediate publication. The
reporter himself is an eyewitness to the event that took place.
Coverage news
 News written from a given beat. Both spot news and coverage news
are good example of firsthand reporting.
Follow-up news
 It is a sequel to a previous story. Having a new lead of its own, it is a
second, third or subsequent chapter of a serial.

Types of News (Structure)

News feature
 Single feature is when the story deals with an isolated event. A single
fact is featured in the lead and is explained further in the succeeding
paragraphs.
 Several-feature is when several facts are included in the lead in their
order of importance. These facts are elaborated in the body.

Types of News (Treatment)

Fact story
 This is a plain exposition setting forth a single situation or a series of
closely related facts that inform. It is written in the inverted pyramid
design.
Action story
 A narrative of actions involving not mere simple facts, but also
dramatic events, description of persons and events, testimony of
witnesses, and explanatory data.
Speech report
 A news story written from a public address, talks, and speeches.
Quote story
 Speeches, statements. and letters, and to some extent, interviews
when reported, arc regarded as quote stories.
Interview story
 A news report written front an interview.

Types of News (Content)

Routine story
 Celebrations. enrollment, graduation, and election stories reported
year in and year out.
Police reports
 Accident, fire, calamity, crime stories, kidnapping, terrorism, murder,
and robbery.
Science news
 Science writing
Developmental news
 Development communication
Sports stories
 Sports writing

Types of News (Minor Forms)

News brief
 A short item of news interest, written like a brief telegraphic message,
giving mainly the result with details.
News bulletin
 It is similar to the lead of a straight news story. Its aim is just to give the
gist of the news.
News featurette
 A short news feature usually used as fillers.
Flash
 A bulletin that conveys the first word of an event.

Writing the Lead

 Conventional/Summary Lead

Who lead
 Used when the person involved is more prominent than what he does or
what happens to him.
 President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo addressed April 20, the PMA
graduates in Baguio City.
What lead
 Used when the event or what took place is more important than the
person involved in the story.
 The NSAT will be given November 24 to all graduating high school
students desiring to enroll in the four-year college course.
Where lead
 Used when the place is unique and no prominent person is involved.
 The Philippines will be the site of the next Miss Universe contest.
When lead
 Rarely used as the reader presumes the story to be timely. However, this
lead is useful when speaking of deadlines, holidays, and important
dates.
 April 15 is the deadline for filing the Income Tax Returns at the BIR.
 Today, almost to the hour, the Revolutionary Government was
proclaimed by former President Joseph Estrada.
Why lead
 Used when the reason is more prominent or unique than what happens.
 Because of poverty, around a hundred students dropped out from school
last year. This was learned from PNU President Nilo L. Rosas
How lead
 Used when the manner, mode, means, or method of achieving the story
is the unnatural way.
 By appealing to the school board, the Manila Science High School was
able to construct a three-story concrete building.

Grammatical Beginning Lead

Prepositional phrase lead

 The phrase is introduced by a preposition.
 With brooms and other cleaning equipment, boy scouts from the Manila
public high schools cleaned the city markets in consonance with Mayor
Lito Atienza's Clean and Beautification Drive.
Infinitive phrase lead
 It begins with the sign of the infinitive to plus the main verb.
 To encourage tourism, balikbayans are given a warm welcome by their
fellow Filipinos.
Participial phrase lead
 It is introduced by the present or past participle form of the verb.
 Hoping to cop first place, the PNU wood-pushers honed up for the
chess championship games. (Present participle)
 Dressed like priests, robbers were able to enter the bank (Past
participle)
Gerundial phrase lead
 It is introduced by a gerund.
  Winning the development communication trophy during the national
press conference was Araullo High School's best achievement of the
year.
Clause lead
 The lead begins with a clause which may either be independent or
subordinate or may either be a noun or an adjectival or adverbial
clause.
 Because September 9 was Osmeña Day, all lessons dealt with the life
of the late President Sergio Osmeña Senior (Subordinate and adverbial)

Novelty Lead

Astonisher lead
 Uses an interjection or an exclamatory sentence.
 Champion of District 1!
 Better look your best this week!
Contrast lead
 Describes two extremes or opposites for emphasis. The sharper the
contrast, the more effective the lead will be.
 Four months before the Beautification and Cleanliness Drive, Zone 15
in Tondo, Manila was the dirtiest district. Three months after, it won
first place in the CLEAN contest sponsored by the Department of
Community and Local Government.
Epigram lead
 Opens by quoting a common expression, verse, or epigram, at least
familiar in the locality.
 Like father, like son. Ramon Garcia Junior graduated valedictorian this
year. Ten years ago, his father, Mr. Ramon Garcia Senior, also topped
his class and delivered his valedictory address on the same rostrum
where the young Garcia delivered his.
Picture lead
 Describes a person, a place, or an event, at the same time, creating a
mental picture of the subject matter in the mind of the reader.
 The new principal, although only in his early thirties, is already silver-
haired. He seldom talks, but when he does, he talks with sense.
Background lead
 Similar to the picture lead, except that, it describes the setting which
may be more prominent than the characters and the events.
 The PNU campus was turned into a miniature carnival ground in
September 1 during the 104th Foundation Day celebration of the
University. Decorated with buntings and multicolored lights, the
quadrangle was a grand setting for a barrio fiesta.
Descriptive lead
 Used when comparatively few descriptive words can vividly formulate
an imagery.
 Dressed in white polo barong, and with diplomas in their hands, 1,500
graduates marched down the stage to the tune of Osmeña High March.
Parody lead
 Consists of a parody of a well-known song, poem, or lines.
 Water, water everywhere, but no water to drink. This was what the
flood victims found to their dismay.
Punch lead
 A short, forceful word or expression. It is rarely used.
 Victory Day!
 Magsaysay High School celebrated on March 18 its fifth victory in the
city-wide
 journalism contests.
One-word lead
 Self-explanatory
 March!
 Thus, ordered President Joey Lina Jr. of Osmeña High School to start the
"Walk for Health" fund-raising drive.
Quotation lead
 Consists of the speaker's direct words which are very striking and which
are usually quoted from a speech, a public address, or an interview.
 "The youth in The New Republic have become partners of the
government in its struggle for progress and advancement" thus spoke
PNU Director Rene Romero to some 400 student delegates to the 2006
Leadership Training Seminar held on December 26-30 at the Edilberto
Dagot Hall.
Question lead
 An answer to a question which is the basis of the news story.
 Who will reign as Miss Intramurals this year? This will be known on
August 8 after the final screening to be held at the PNU Gym and
Performing Arts Center.

Types of News Structure

Straight News Story

 The summary lead answers the most important W’s depending on which
of the W’s is the most prominent among them.
 The body consists of the elaboration of the W’s and the H.

News Feature Story

 News-feature should not be confused with feature articles which are
sometimes called special features and printed in the features sections of
the newspapers or in magazines.
 Human interest and news-feature stories are classified as news since
both are gathered and written daily by reporters as their regular
assignments. Furthermore, both emphasize the element of timeliness or
immediacy which distinguishes news from other types of reading,
although they differ in important respects from the straight news story.

The Single-Feature Story

 A single-feature or one-incident story such as an account of a speech,
an interview, or an election, deals with an isolated event.

Guidelines in Writing:
 Include the one-feature in the lead.
 Add in the body details which clarify and explain the lead.
 See that the story breaks logically at every paragraph and that the story
may be cut or lengthened as space dictates.
 The Several-Feature, Multiple-Angle or Composite Story
 In a composite story, two or more divergent aspects of a news topic are
drawn together for the sake of space and coherence.

Guidelines in Writing:
 Include all of the features in a comprehensive lead in the order of their
importance.
 Explain and elaborate in the body each of the features in the order in
which they are in the lead.
 Relegate less important details of each feature to less important
positions.
Fact Story
 This is a plain exposition of a simple situation or of a series of closely
related events that conform to the inverted pyramid design more
closely than any other kind of news.
 The component parts are the series of facts that may be likened to
rectangles of diminishing length arranged one after the other in order
of their importance.

Action Story
 This is a narrative involving not merely simple facts, but dramatic
actions, incidents, descriptions of persons, perhaps testimonies of
witnesses, as well as explanatory data.

Guidelines in Writing:
 Write a summarizing lead in any appropriate form.
 Relate the most important details in narrative or chronological form.
 Tell the story again, giving more details.
 Give sufficient attention to the elaboration of important information,
background, and interpretation.
 Each unit must be closely interlocked.

Speech Report, Quote, and Interview Stories

 The arrangement of a speech reports, a quote story, and an interview
are, to a great extent, similar. The quote story may be charted
following summary, quote, summary, quote, summary arrangement.

Guidelines in Writing:
 Write a summarizing lead in any appropriate form. The lead may be the
gist of the speech, statement, letter, or interview, or it may be the
most important quotation in the story written as a direct quote.
 Write the body of the story in a summary-quote- summary
arrangement.
 The quotations may be direct, indirect, or a combination of both.

Organizing News Stories

Inverted Pyramid Style

  A traditional news writing form in which the key points of a story are
put in the opening paragraph, and the news is stacked in the following
paragraphs in order of descending importance.

Spot News Story Outline

 Spot news stories, also called breaking news stories, usually follow a
standard formula for writing called the inverted pyramid.

Guidelines in Writing:
1. Lead (1-2 paragraphs) Sums up the focus of the story; orients readers
by telling them something. Surprising, entices them to continue
reading for more details, answers Who? What? When? Where? Why?
How?
2. Impact (1 paragraph (How will this affect the reader?)
3. Reaction and response (1 paragraph)
4. Cosmic quote that sums up story’s focus (1 paragraph)
5. Background (1 paragraph)
6. Explication of lead, including facts, quotes, anecdotes, and other
evidence that support the story’s focus.

Hourglass Style
 A style of writing in which the major news of a story is reported in the
first few paragraphs, and then a transitional paragraph introduces a
chronology of the events of the story.

Micro-Organization
 Each sentence should contain one central idea.
 Each sentence should lead logically to the next.
 When necessary, transitions should ease the reader from one issue to
the next and connect the main issues of your story.
 The top of your story should include the essential information needed to
inform the reader of the news and, if necessary, should have a
background paragraph, a news hook, and a cosmic quote that follow.
 Put attributions at the end of a sentence unless who’s saying it is more
important than what’s being said.

News hook
 “With only one month to go before the first votes are cast in the Student
Government Executive Body elections”

Nut graph
 “Never before have so many political parties contended so avidly for the
votes of the silent majority which definitely will decide the outcome of
the elections”

Background
 “Largely ignored in the past, the silent majority have become the focus
of government platforms of the contending parties, the identified
audience in the campaigns”

Cosmic Quote
  “This is the first time in the local executive body election since the 1980
that four political parties try to mobilize the majority to end their silence
and finally speak up” said Marites Gomez, secretary general of the
Sprite 7 Up Party Coalition. But Miss Gomez, who is confident her party
will win the elections, said she saw no cause of alarm in this. While the
silent majority “have not been mobilized in the past” she said, “their
silence has been our inspiration to speak up and stand for them”

Lecture 3: Writing Headlines

News Headline
 Every news story has a title of its own called a headline. This headline in
printed type is much bigger and bolder than its body which is the story
itself. The headline of the number one story on page 1 is called a
banner. If it runs across the page, it may also be called a streamer.
 While the lead summarizes the story, the headline, on the other hand,
summarizes the lead.

Among the important functions of the headline are the following:

 To tell in capsule form what the story is all about.
 To grade the news as to importance.
 To make the page look attractive.

Headline Structure

There are different kinds of headlines according to structure. However, for the
sake of consistency, only one kind should be adopted by a newspaper.
Common among these are illustrated and briefly explained as follows:

Flush Left
 Both lines are flushed to the left margin. This is also true with a one-
line headline. This has no exact count for the units in each line.
Dropline or Step Form
 The first line is flushed left while the second is indented. It may consist
of two or three, and sometimes four lines of types of the same length,
somewhat less than a column in width, so that the first line is flushed
to the left, the second centered, and the third flushed to the right.
Inverted Pyramid
 This is self-explanatory. Each of the three or four lines in this head is
successively shorter than the line above it.
Hanging Indention
 The first line is flushed left. This is followed by two indented parallel
lines.
Crossline or Bar Line
 A one-line headline that runs across the column. The simplest form, it
is a single line across the allotted space. If it runs across the page, it is
called a streamer.
Boxed headline
 For emphasis or art's sake, some headlines are boxed, such as full box,
half box, and quarter box.
Jump Story Headline
 A jump story (A story continued on another page) has a headline of its
own. This may be the same as the original headline or it may just be a
word, a phrase or a group of words followed by a series of dots.

Do’s and Do Not’s:

1. Make your headline answer as many W's as possible.
2. The headline should summarize the news story. It should contain
nothing that is not found in trie story.
3. Positive heads are preferable to negative ones.
Example:
 School physician allays flu fear is better and shorter than flu epidemic
not rampant in city.
4. Put a verb expressed or implied in every deck.
5. Omit articles like a, an, and the and all forms of the verb to be (Is, are,
and be) unless needed to make the meaning clear.
Examples:
 Reclaimed banks are cause of recurrent flood (Are before cause is not
necessary)
 Barack Obama is new US President (Is is necessary to make the
meaning clearer)
6. Use the strongest word in the first line as much as possible.
7. The active verb is better than the passive verb in headlines. But, for
variation, and especially when the doer is unknown or not prominent,
the passive verb may be used.
Example:
 Local Hi-Y aids flood victims
 Food production drive intensified
 RP's lost image abroad regained
8. Use the present tense for past stories and the infinitive form for future
stories.
Examples:
 President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo bats for national reconciliation.
 Lantern parade to cap Christmas affairs.
9. Write numbers in figures or spell them out depending upon your needs
for your unit counts.
10. Use any of the following headline styles but be consistent once you have
adopted one.
Examples:
 All caps (CHARACTER, NATIONALISM VITAL COGS IN EDUCATION)
 Cap and lower case (Character, Nationalism Vital Cogs in Education)
 Down style (Character, nationalism vital cogs in education)

What to Avoid in Writing Headlines?

1. Avoid the following kinds of headlines:

 Fat Head
  The spaces between the letters or words are so crowded that
there are no more spaces between, them or that the spaces are
so small that several words read as one.
 Thin Head
 The spaces between the letters or words or the space after the
words in a line are so wide that the effect is ugly.
 Label Head
 An incomplete headline, like the label of a product.
 Wooden Hand
 A very weak headline that is devoid of meaning, sometimes due
to the absence of a subject or the lack of a verb.
 Mandatory Head
 It gives a command because it begins with a verb.
 Screaming Head
 It is a big and bold headline of a short and unimportant story. A
sensational head is another kind of screaming headline.
2. Do not tell the same thing even though you use a different word. Each
succeeding deck should contribute information.
3. Do not comment directly or indirectly. Avoid editorializing even in headlines.
4. Unless the subject is implied or has been mentioned in the first deck, avoid
beginning a headline with a verb.
5. Do not end a line with a preposition.
6. Do not break off abbreviations, names, and hyphenated words.
7. Avoid repeating principal words regardless of the number of decks. Avoid
heads that carry a double meaning.
9. Do not coin abbreviations of your own. Use only those that are common to
the readers like PNRC, DepEd, and DCS.
10. Do not abbreviate days and months.

Punctuating Headlines

A few pointers as regards punctuation of headlines should be observed. As a

rule, headlines, just like titles of editorials, features, and literary articles, should
not end with a period:
1. Use a comma in place of the conjunction and.
2. Two related thoughts should be separated with a semicolon. As much as
possible this should be at the end of the line if the headline is a two-line
headline or a running head.
3. The dash may be used for smaller decks, but not for headlines in large
types.
4. The single quotation marks, not the double quotation marks, are used in
headlines.
5. Follow the other rules of punctuation.
Unit Counting

Writing headlines is not as simple and as easy as it seems. A headline should

fit the allotted space by a system of unit counts given to each letter, figure, or
space. This is done to avoid a thin head, a fat head or a bleeding headline
(One that extends out of the column or page)

The corresponding unit counts are given as follows:

  ½ unit (J, I, L, T, F, and all punctuations except the long dash and the
question mark)
 1 unit (The question mark, space, all figures, capital J, I, L, T, and F, all
lower-case letters except j, I, l, t, and f)
 1 ½ (The long dash, lower case m and w, and all capital letters except
capital M and W and J, I, L, T, and F)
 2 units (The capital M and W)

Headline Vocabulary

Headline writing is an art or a special skill. The copy editor who usually writes
the headlines should be able to tell in capsule form, simply, temptingly, yet
understandably, the most complex story with words that fit the limit of the
unit counts. To do this, he must have cartloads of special words to use for the
sake of simplicity, brevity, and easy reading. However, certain newspaper
terms used in headlines are not acceptable in formal writing or usage, nor do
they carry their literal meaning as in the case of idioms:
1. Faculty club strengthened (Beefed up)
2. Enrolment decreases (Dips)
3. Science examinations announced (Quiz/bared)
4. Contests highlight Animal Week (Cap)
5. Rosas speaks on UN theme (Defines)
6. Santos urges for cooperation (Bats for/calls for)
7. Student officials inducted in group (En masse)
8. The PNU Torch passes 82nd year (Milestone)
9. Dope increases in school noted (Upsurge)
10. DepEd Secretary disapproves tuition fee increase (Bucks/hike)
11. The Blue and White wins 12 medals in press contest (Bags/romps away
with/tilt/parley)
12. Malnutrition being discussed at DepEd seminar (Up at)
13. PNUFA starts work (Buckless down to)
14. Nationalism a necessity in education (Vital cog)
15. Principal praises Osmeña humility (Lauds/extols)
16. Lina keynote speaker at YMCA confab (Conference)
17. Local staff dominates press title (Rules/lord over)
18. Drive against dirty literature going on (Smut on)
19. Comedia to be shown in August (Booked for)
20. Home Economics club holds contest in cooking (Pits cooking talents)
21. Enrolment reaches 5000 students (Hits 5000 mark)
22. Student writers prepare for journalism contest (Scribes hone up for
press tilt)
23. Model platoon cops two places (Posts twin wins)
24. Local baseball players retain championship (Sluggers/crown)
25. Local volleyball players capture crown (Spikers/netter/wrest)

The following words are stronger and therefore better than the word defeat.
Note the difference in the scores:
 THS five overwhelms AFS cagers, 56-30 (Murders, demolishes, subdues,
pummels, flogs, overshoot, clobbers, and crushes)
  AHS cagers nose out THS five, 60-58 (Shade)
 Local netters out spike Laurel killers (Spill, down, out spur, wallop, rout,
and blast)
 MLQ sluggers out bat Osmeña hitters (Outwit/outplay)

The following italicized terms or expressions are usually used in the

metropolitan dailies. Enclosed in parentheses after the headlines are their
corresponding synonyms or explanations:
1. US hits Iraq's nuclear test (Attacks)
2. DepEd acts to nip tuition hike (Stop/increase)
3. Arroyo's nod expected (Approval)
4. Pimentel prods GMA to resign (Urges)
5. Narcotic gang busted (Syndicate/ended)
6. Atienza seeks striking teachers probe (Quiz/investigation)
7. Vacation plans scrapped (Disapproved)
8. 20 donors boost fund drive (Increase)
9. Gang chief falls (Leader/captured)
10. Fiscal upholds budget proposal (Approves)
11. Border dispute triggers war (Starts)
12. De Castro winds up diplomatic tour (Ends)