Headline writing

One of the more valuable sessions I attended. Because it was led by Tom Pierce -- formerly of the St. Petersburg Times -- it was SRO, but I was able to see a good bit of the slides through a crack in the door. I also received a very informative handout summarizing the principles of good headline writing. To avoid redundancy, Pierce showed bad examples in his slide show and pretty much just pointed out what would be a good idea to avoid. Ambiguity, cliches and headlines that don't come close to encapsulating the story of pulling in the reader are among the things to be avoided. He said he is a strong advocate of making headlines amusing when it's appropriate and using puns. The handout is very detailed and even says which fonts and font sizes to avoid. He suggests first writing out the most important words regarding the story and just playing around with them, never just thinking out a headline in your head.

Jim Mustian