Copyreading and Headline Writing 2

COPYREADING AND HEADLINE WRITING WHAT IS COPYREADING? Copyreading is the art of arranging, correcting, and selecting the quality and type of a news. It is also called copyediting. One who edits copies is called copyreader or copyeditor. The copy is the material for a newspaper or magazine article. It is called as the text written by an author. RESPONSIBILITIES OF A COPYREADER/COPYEDITOR: 1. Edits errors on grammar (spelling, tenses, agreement, etc.) 2. Edits errors on fact (accuracy and check) 3. Edits verbose copy 4. Deletes opinion/slant and libelous statements 5. Makes sure articles follow the newspaper style 6. Writes the headline WHAT IS A STYLE? In journalism, style refers to the fact that every time a certain term appears in a newspaper, they are spelled the same way. It covers the used of abbreviations, titles, punctuations, and how time is mentioned. BASICS OF NEWSPAPER STYLE (POINTERS IN COPYEDITING) A. Numbers  The numbers 1 – 9 are written in words while the numbers 10 and above are written in figures. Ex.: nine students 13 children  Exceptions:  dates, address: always in figures  proper nouns may be written in figures or words  beginning of sentence: always begin in words.  events: 1st to 9th is allowed B. Spelling  Look for misspelled words.  Here in the Philippines, American English is used, not British English. Ex.: color, not colour  If a word has more than one accepted spelling, the shortest one is preferred. Ex.: judgment, instead of judgement C. Capitalization  The first letter of the sentence is always capitalized.  Proper nouns are capitalized, common nouns are not. Ex.: singer Regine Velasquez  Small letters are usually used for title or position. Ex.: Mrs. Cecilia Buragay, the principal of BCIS, delivered the opening remarks.  Capitalized titles: Governor Umali

D. Abbreviations  Spell out Dept., gov’t, and other abbreviations  The abbreviations Jr. and Sr. are allowed in names  Remember: Engr. Emmanuel Delgado Engineer Delgado  Remember: 12 Dimagiba St. Dimagiba Street  A title or position of a person may be abbreviated if it appears before the name but not if simply used in the sentence. Ex.: Sen. Recto filled another taxation bill yesterday. The senator filled another taxation bill yesterday. E. Acronyms  Acronyms are usually written in capital letters. Ex.: BCIS  Check if the letters of the acronym are in the correct order.  When an acronym appears for the first time in a news story, it is written after its meaning and it is enclosed in a parenthesis. Ex.: University of the Philippines (UP) F. Paragraph  The first sentence of a paragraph is indented.  In news stories, the rule is one paragraph, one sentence only. G. Lead  There should be no names of unknown persons in the leads  Check for buried leads  The standard lead answers the 5Ws and 1H. H. Grammar  Check for errors in: 1. Tenses of Verbs 2. Subject-Verb Agreement 3. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement (agreement in gender and number) 4. Articles (a, an, the)  Remember: he said and not said he; Aquino said and not said Aquino  Remember: three-day training and not three-days training; trained for three days and not trained for three-day I.

Punctuation 1. Period  It is used at the end of declarative and imperative sentences  It is used in abbreviations such as p.m., a.m., Jr., Sr., Pres., Sen., Rep., Gov., Gen., Capt., Dr., Fr., Atty., Corp., and Inc.  Acronyms of schools, organizations, and offices do not need periods. 2. Comma  It is used to separate the month and day from the year.  It is used to separate the street, barangay, town and province in an address.

 It is used to separate facts concerning victims and suspects. Ex.: Jolas Burayag, 17, of Barangay San Fernando Norte  Do not use commas to separate abbreviation Jr., Sr., or III from the name. Ex.: Emanuel Delgado Jr.  (Filipino) Gumamit ng kuwit sa paghihiwalay ng mga pananalitang pasalungat na pinangungunahan ng ngunit, datapwat, hindi, atbp. Hal.: Mayaman sila, ngunit hindi sila maligaya. 3. Colon and Semicolon  Use colons when presenting a series of information and use semicolons to separate components of series. Ex.: Elected Officers of the Board of Elders: Dr. Arturo Guina, President; Atty. Ferdinand Dumlao, Vice President; Dr. Narciso V. Matienzo, Secretary; and Dr. Poyen Pini, Treasurer. 4. Hyphen  Use hyphen in most compound nouns Ex.: editor-in-chief, officer-in-charge  Use hyphen in fractions Ex.: two-thirds, three fourths  Use hyphen in English numerals Ex.: twenty-two, fifty-nine  (Filipino) Gumamit ng gitling kapag ang isang tanging ngalan ay inuunlapian. Hal.: maka-Estrada, taga-Cabanatuan, pam-Bagong Taon  (Filipino) Gumamit ng gitling sa pagitan ng unlaping ika- at tambilang o oras. Hal.: ika-7 ng Agosto, ika-3:35 ng madaling araw  (Filipino) Sa salitang ang kayarian ay inuulit Hal.: kabi-kabila 5. Dash  Use dash between two figures to indicate inclusion of all intervening figures. Avoid: from Aug. 15 to 30 Better: Aug. 15 – 30 6. Quotation Marks  Quotation marks are used in direct quotations. Indirect quotations do not need them. Ex.: “I forgot it,” he said. He said he forgot it.  Periods and commas are written first before closing quotation marks. Ex.: “Let’s go to SM,” the boy said.  Quotation marks are used to set off an alias or nickname. Ex.: Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr. Juan Chua alias “Boy Singkit”  Do not used quotation marks to set off titles of events, shows, movies, books, etc. Ex.: We watched The Titanic. But: We watched “Walang Hanggan” 7. Apostrophe  (English) Apostrophes are used in the possessive form of the noun. Ex.: The teacher’s table The teacher’s meeting

 Apostrophes are used in contractions Ex.: I’m (I am) You’re (you are) J. SOME REMINDERS  Watch out for jumbled letters, words and paragraphs.  Check for joined/disjoined words. Ex.: class room, newteacher  Delete editorializing words/phrases. Ex.: The very beautiful and intelligent principal… The cops were right in arresting…  Check for redundancies (recurring words/ phrases/ paragraphs, synonymous or reduntant terms) Ex.: the concert the concert ended at the back of the rear advance planning asked a question repeat again  REMEMBER: After editing the news write 30

at the end of the article.

 REMEMBER: if the article is not yet finished, write

more

at the bottom of the page.

 MGA PAALALA (FILIPINO) 1. Wastong paglalapi ng pandiwa Hal.: Nagdala ang mga bangkay ng mga biktima sa Gospel Memorial Homes. 2. Wastong gamit ng dito at rito, din at rin, atbp. 3. Wastong gamit ng sa at kay 4. Wastong gamit ng ang, si, at ni 5. Wastong gamit ng nang at ng WHAT IS HEADLINE WRITING? Headline writing is an assemblage of words written in bigger, bolder letters than the usual page text at the beginning of the news. It is not a title. FUNCTIONS OF HEADLINE 1. To attract readers 2. To tell a story (in summary) 3. To add variety of type (to break monotony in a sea of type) 4. To identify personality of newspaper (use of font/style of letters) 5. To index/grade the news (big type for important news; small type for less important) POINTERS IN HEADLINE WRITING (TIPS IN WRITING HEADLINE) 1. First, read the story for general meaning 2. Clues to the headline are usually in the lead  What happened?  Who did what?  How did it happen?

3. Use the shortest words possible. Examples include: cop – policeman nab – arrest mishap – accident up – increase down – decrease thief – robber 4. Have a subject and a verb. Avoid starting with a verb; the headline might sound as if it were giving orders. Wrong: Revise money mart guidelines Correct: Central Bank revises money mart guidelines 5. Use the historical present tense if the verb is in the active voice. Wrong: Delgado topped editorial tilt Correct: Delgado tops editorial tilt 6. Omit the helping verb if the verb is in the passive voice. Only the past participle is retained. Wrong: Drug pushers are nabbed Correct: Drug pushers nabbed 7. Use the infinitive for future events. Wrong: City Hall will punish anti-squatting drive Correct: City Hall to punish anti-squatting drive 8. Do not use a period at the end of a headline. 9. Omit articles (a, an, the). Wrong: A fire hits Tondo slum area Correct: Fire hits Tondo slum area 10. Use comma instead of writing “and” in headlines. Ex.: Delays, confusion bug Asiad Lacson, Trillanes no show at SONA 11. Use semicolon to separate sentences. Ex.: Gina Lopez heads Pasig body; Noy swears in 35 other execs 12. Use the punctuation marks (especially the exclamation point) sparingly. 13. Use single quotes („) in headlines instead of double quotes (“). 14. Always give the source of a quote. Quotation marks are not necessary, a dash or colon will serve the purpose. Ex.: Crackdown on errant bust firms – Enrile Enrile: Crackdown on errant bust firms 15. Use the down-style – only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized, unless otherwise indicated. This is more readable because people are used to reading sentences this way. Ex.: Faculty honors Nuñez

16. Use only known abbreviations Wrong: JEE to play Santa this Christmas 17. Don‟t use names unless the person is well-known, use common nouns instead. Wrong: Santos electrocuted Correct: Carpenter electrocuted 18. Use specific names instead of generalities Example: Trader killed Better: Trader stabbed to death 19. Just report the facts, do not editorialize. Wrong: Noy gives inspiring talks (The word “inspiring” is just your opinion.) 20. Be positive. Don‟t use negatives in headlines. They weaken not only the headline but also the stories. HEADLINE PATTERNS 1. Crossline (one line) and two-part crossline (two lines) XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX 2. Dropline (or Stepline) XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX 3. Flush left XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX 4. Flush right XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX 5. Hanging Indention XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX 6. Inverted Pyramid XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX 7. Block (flush left and right from margin to margin) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

DIRECTIONS TO THE PRINTER

1 – number of columns 18 – font size or points TNR – font or type B – font style 1 – number of lines

FL – headline pattern DS – downstyle (20 units) – unit counts

1 – line spacing 11 – font size or points TNR – font or type N – font style – text to which the direction will apply

DECK Deck is the number of lines your headline will have. Example: BCIS bags medals in NEPEESA quiz bee (1 deck) 10 more cops wanted for Maguindanao massacre (2 decks)

UNIT COUNTS A count system considers differences in the widths of letters. Capital Letters: M, W – 2 units JLIFT – 1 unit Others – 1 ½ units Small Letters: m, w – 1 ½ units jlift – ½ unit others – 1 unit Punctuation Marks dash (–) – 1 ½ units question mark (?) – 1 unit others – ½ unit Number digits 0 to 9 – 1 unit Space – 1 unit