What’s in a Headline? Everything!

Print journalists know from the inverted pyramid that the lead paragraph requires the 5 W’s and H … What, When, Where, Who, Why and How. And  a good headline tells the whole story. Like this:

Trump treats politics like a knife fight. Democrats can’t pretend it’s a garden party.

An effective headline says it all and this headline does just that. According to this Opinion article in The Washington Post, Democrats are being “unfailingly polite” to Republicans when instead, they should be playing rough. In order for any progress to be made, Democrats must play at the same level as Republicans.

The author, Eugene Robinson writes, “Don’t get mired in paralysis with analysis … The remedy is not for progressives to choose their words oh-so-carefully and hope no one takes offense. It is to be loud and clear — and tough as nails — in fighting back.”

Here’s another:

Photo Courtesy of Words Going Wild

One of the most famous headlines to appear in any American publication, “Sticks nix hick pix” was an article in Variety magazine printed in 1935 about the reaction of rural audiences to rural-themed films. As the headline cleverly shows, the rural audiences were not fond of the films about rural life: Sticks (people in rural areas) nix (reject) hick (rural life) pix (films). Surprisingly perhaps, the rural audiences were fond of movies about the upper-class.

Telling everything in a headline.

And, not to be outdone, ads say it all in headlines, too.

Porsche:

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The Weather Network:

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Harley Davidson:

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L.L. Bean:

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Ricola:

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Air Asia:

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