Headlines, teasers and lead
A headline is the bold, larger text on top of a
story
• It is not a complete sentence.
• It is often limited to 5-10 words
• It is often in present tense
A teaser is what is said orally to get a viewer to
watch the news; or online to get a user to click
A lead is the first sentence of the story.
• It is a complete sentence, with a subject and predicate, with articles.
• It can be up to 30 words long.
• It’s longer to add more context than a headline
• If is often past tense because it already happened
• We will be writing LEADS in this class.
Here are some side-by-side looks
Headline style
Correct
Purdue alumnus shares secrets of
success with current students.
A Purdue alumnus shared his
secrets of success with current
students during a talk Monday.
(Present tense, no articles, too
short so no context)
(It already happened, so past
tense. Articles make it a complete
sentence, the way we talk. We
add words to give it context).
Headline style
Correct
City Council cancels recycling.
The City Council eliminated
curbside recycling Monday to save
money.
(Articles, past tense because it
already happened, more words to
add context, day of week to show
it is new)
(Present tense, no articles, too
short so no context)
You mostly will use past or future
Headline style
OK
City Council doubles parking
restrictions near campus.
The City Council on Monday doubled
the number of streets with parking
restrictions in a near-campus
neighborhood.
(Present tense, no articles, too
short so no context).
Students will have a harder time
finding parking near campus because
of new restrictions passed Monday
by the City Council.
If you use present, you need an acceptable
form
Like present progressive:
Curbside recycling services are being eliminated in West Lafayette to
save money.