Headline Writing Vocab

The primary headline of a news story

• Main deck
• Summary headline
• Narrative headline
• Drop head

A word or phrase set off graphically from the beginning of a caption and meant to capture the audience's attention.

• Descriptive headline

• Catch line

• Kicker

• Teaser

A headline that uses descriptive writing techniques to provoke interest or controversy

• Descriptive headline

• Catch line

• Kicker

• Teaser

A large font that adds graphic interest to the design of the letters

• Catch line
• Read-out
• Display font
• Teaser

A subsidiary headline that adds information below the main deck and is usually in a different font than the main headline; also called a read-out

• Drop head
• Search engine optimized (SEO)
• Hammer head
• Catch line

A subsidiary headline set in large, bold type above the main deck

• Descriptive headline
• Spider
• Headlinese
• Hammer head

An abbreviated writing style used in summary headlines to convey the most import story elements in the least amount of space

• Display font
• Headlinese
• Kicker
• Descriptive headline

A subsidiary headline above the main deck that adds information to the main deck and is about half the point size of the main deck

• Drop head
• Kicker
• Main deck
• Display font

A headline written as a complete sentence in standard, sometimes conversational English

• Hammer head
• Teaser
• Narrative headline
• Headlinese

A headline crafted to capture the attention of search engines

• Headlinese
• Catch line
• Read-out
• Search engine optimized (SEO)