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hat follows” (Longman Dictionary of the English Language, 1984: 676).
The present writer also agrees with the definition offered by Webster’s Third New International Dictionary: A head of a newspaper story or article, usually printed in large type and devised to summarize, give essential information about, or interest readers in reading the story or article that follows (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1961: 1042).
From the above definitions, we can see that news headlines are defined in terms of the role, function and form, namely, the role of news headlines is to summarize and make comments on its contents; the function is to interest readers in reading the news; the form is in concise wording.
1.2 Roles of Headline
The news headline is the fundamental part of any piece of news. In a time when it’s harder to get people’s attention, good writers always spend too much time and creative energy working on their headlines because they know that the headline is one of the most important parts of their work. According to Bruce H. Westley, from the standpoint of the reader, newspaper headlines serve the following purposes (Westley, 1972: 141):
—To tell the news by the headline alone.
Headlines summarize the news, so by glancing over them, the readers will know what the story is about.
—To index the news.
Readers can quickly locate the parts that interest him most by following the sequence of the news points line by line.
—To convey the relative significance of the news. Headlines rank the importance of stories by the size of the print and placement on the page.
—To transmit the relative seriousness of the news.
For instance, Italics and various decorative typographical devices such as boxes, star dashes, and so on, indicate that a story is primarily included for its entertainment value rather than its significance.
—To produce attractive effects.
Headlines are essential to attract the reader’s attention with large print and sometimes with language of shocking or sensational effect.
—To establish character and stability.
The consistent use of familiar headline structure gives the newspaper a relatively familiar and welcome personality.
—To attract potential readers.
This purpose is specified for the front page of a newspaper. Nowadays, electronic media can transfer information more quickly. To compete for a share of the public’s time, the front page plays the most important role of attracting the eyeballs of the readers. Since newspapers are usually sold on the newsstands with just the top-half of the paper showing to the passengers, reporters of newspapers try every means to make the banner headlines across the top of the page attractive enough to be a crowd-stopper.
1.3 Requirements of Headlines
Through our previous discussion we have a general idea of the functions of English news headlines. So we say that a good headline, in general, must meet the following requirements.
1.3.1To Advertise the News
Newspaper reading is in fact a communication between news people and readers. And a successful communication is possible or not depends on whether the communicator has obtained the attention of the receiver. As the beginning of the news, a news headline is designed to fulfill many functions especially that it must serve to attract the readers’ attention.
When readers open a newspap