COPYREADING AND HEADLINE WRITING

WHAT IS COPYREADING?
Copyreading is the art of arranging, correcting, and selecting the quality and type of a news.
It is also called copyediting. One who edits copies is called copyreader or copyeditor.
The copy is the material for a newspaper or magazine article. It is called as the text written by
an author.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A COPYREADER/COPYEDITOR:
1. Edits errors on grammar (spelling, tenses, agreement, etc.)
2. Edits errors on fact (accuracy and check)
3. Edits verbose copy
4. Deletes opinion/slant and libelous statements
5. Makes sure articles follow the newspaper style
6. Writes the headline

WHAT IS A STYLE?
In journalism, style refers to the fact that every time a certain term appears in a newspaper,
they are spelled the same way. It covers the used of abbreviations, titles, punctuations, and how time
is mentioned.

BASICS OF NEWSPAPER STYLE (POINTERS IN COPYEDITING)
A. Numbers
The numbers 1 9 are written in words while the numbers 10 and above are written in
figures.
Ex.: nine students
13 children
Exceptions:
dates, address: always in figures
proper nouns may be written in figures or words
beginning of sentence: always begin in words.
events: 1st to 9th is allowed

B. Spelling
Look for misspelled words.
Here in the Philippines, American English is used, not British English.
Ex.: color, not colour
If a word has more than one accepted spelling, the shortest one is preferred.
Ex.: judgment, instead of judgement

C. Capitalization
The first letter of the sentence is always capitalized.
Proper nouns are capitalized, common nouns are not.
Ex.: singer
Regine Velasquez
Small letters are usually used for title or position.
Ex.: Mrs. Cecilia Buragay, the principal of BCIS, delivered the opening
remarks.
Capitalized titles: Governor Umali


D. Abbreviations
Spell out Dept., govt, and other abbreviations
The abbreviations Jr. and Sr. are allowed in names
Remember: Engr. Emmanuel Delgado
Engineer Delgado
Remember: 12 Dimagiba St.
Dimagiba Street
A title or position of a person may be abbreviated if it appears before the name but not
if simply used in the sentence.
Ex.: Sen. Recto filled another taxation bill yesterday.
The senator filled another taxation bill yesterday.

E. Acronyms
Acronyms are usually written in capital letters.
Ex.: BCIS
Check if the letters of the acronym are in the correct order.
When an acronym appears for the first time in a news story, it is written after its meaning
and it is enclosed in a parenthesis.
Ex.: University of the Philippines (UP)

F. Paragraph
The first sentence of a paragraph is indented.
In news stories, the rule is one paragraph, one sentence only.

G. Lead
There should be no names of unknown persons in the leads
Check for buried leads
The standard lead answers the 5Ws and 1H.

H. Grammar
Check for errors in:
1. Tenses of Verbs
2. Subject-Verb Agreement
3. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement (agreement in gender and number)
4. Articles (a, an, the)
Remember:
he said and not said he;
Aquino said and not said Aquino
Remember:
three-day training and not three-days training;
trained for three days and not trained for three-day

I. Punctuation
1. Period
It is used at the end of declarative and imperative sentences
It is used in abbreviations such as p.m., a.m., Jr., Sr., Pres., Sen., Rep., Gov., Gen., Capt.,
Dr., Fr., Atty., Corp., and Inc.
Acronyms of schools, organizations, and offices do not need periods.
2. Comma
It is used to separate the month and day from the year.
It is used to separate the street, barangay, town and province in an address.
It is used to separate facts concerning victims and suspects.
Ex.: Jolas Burayag, 17, of Barangay San Fernando Norte
Do not use commas to separate abbreviation Jr., Sr., or III from the name.
Ex.: Emanuel Delgado Jr.

(Filipino) Gumamit ng kuwit sa paghihiwalay ng mga pananalitang pasalungat na
pinangungunahan ng ngunit, datapwat, hindi, atbp.
Hal.: Mayaman sila, ngunit hindi sila maligaya.

3. Colon and Semicolon
Use colons when presenting a series of information and use semicolons to separate
components of series.
Ex.: Elected Officers of the Board of Elders: Dr. Arturo Guina, President; Atty.
Ferdinand Dumlao, Vice President; Dr. Narciso V. Matienzo, Secretary; and Dr.
Poyen Pini, Treasurer.
4. Hyphen
Use hyphen in most compound nouns
Ex.: editor-in-chief, officer-in-charge
Use hyphen in fractions
Ex.: two-thirds, three fourths
Use hyphen in English numerals
Ex.: twenty-two, fifty-nine

(Filipino) Gumamit ng gitling kapag ang isang tanging ngalan ay inuunlapian.
Hal.: maka-Estrada, taga-Cabanatuan, pam-Bagong Taon
(Filipino) Gumamit ng gitling sa pagitan ng unlaping ika- at tambilang o oras.
Hal.: ika-7 ng Agosto, ika-3:35 ng madaling araw
(Filipino) Sa salitang ang kayarian ay inuulit
Hal.: kabi-kabila

5. Dash
Use dash between two figures to indicate inclusion of all intervening figures.
Avoid: from Aug. 15 to 30
Better: Aug. 15 30

6. Quotation Marks
Quotation marks are used in direct quotations. Indirect quotations do not need them.
Ex.: I forgot it, he said.
He said he forgot it.
Periods and commas are written first before closing quotation marks.
Ex.: Lets go to SM, the boy said.
Quotation marks are used to set off an alias or nickname.
Ex.: Ramon Bong Revilla, Jr.
Juan Chua alias Boy Singkit
Do not used quotation marks to set off titles of events, shows, movies, books, etc.
Ex.: We watched The Titanic.
But: We watched Walang Hanggan

7. Apostrophe
(English) Apostrophes are used in the possessive form of the noun.
Ex.: The teachers table
The teachers meeting

Apostrophes are used in contractions
Ex.: Im (I am)
Youre (you are)

J. SOME REMINDERS
Watch out for jumbled letters, words and paragraphs.

Check for joined/disjoined words.
Ex.: class room, newteacher

Delete editorializing words/phrases.
Ex.: The very beautiful and intelligent principal
The cops were right in arresting

Check for redundancies (recurring words/ phrases/ paragraphs, synonymous or reduntant
terms)
Ex.: the concert the concert ended
at the back of the rear
advance planning
asked a question
repeat again

REMEMBER: After editing the news write 30 at the end of the article.

REMEMBER: if the article is not yet finished, write more at the bottom of the page.

MGA PAALALA (FILIPINO)
1. Wastong paglalapi ng pandiwa
Hal.: Nagdala ang mga bangkay ng mga biktima sa Gospel Memorial Homes.
2. Wastong gamit ng dito at rito, din at rin, atbp.
3. Wastong gamit ng sa at kay
4. Wastong gamit ng ang, si, at ni
5. Wastong gamit ng nang at ng


WHAT IS HEADLINE WRITING?
Headline writing is an assemblage of words written in bigger, bolder letters than the usual
page text at the beginning of the news. It is not a title.

FUNCTIONS OF HEADLINE
1. To attract readers
2. To tell a story (in summary)
3. To add variety of type (to break monotony in a sea of type)
4. To identify personality of newspaper (use of font/style of letters)
5. To index/grade the news (big type for important news; small type for less important)

POINTERS IN HEADLINE WRITING (TIPS IN WRITING HEADLINE)
1. First, read the story for general meaning

2. Clues to the headline are usually in the lead
What happened?
Who did what?
How did it happen?
3. Use the shortest words possible.
Examples include:
cop policeman
nab arrest
mishap accident
up increase
down decrease
thief robber

4. Have a subject and a verb. Avoid starting with a verb; the headline might sound as if it were
giving orders.
Wrong: Revise money mart guidelines
Correct: Central Bank revises money mart guidelines

5. Use the historical present tense if the verb is in the active voice.
Wrong: Delgado topped editorial tilt
Correct: Delgado tops editorial tilt

6. Omit the helping verb if the verb is in the passive voice. Only the past participle is retained.
Wrong: Drug pushers are nabbed
Correct: Drug pushers nabbed

7. Use the infinitive for future events.
Wrong: City Hall will punish anti-squatting drive
Correct: City Hall to punish anti-squatting drive

8. Do not use a period at the end of a headline.

9. Omit articles (a, an, the).
Wrong: A fire hits Tondo slum area
Correct: Fire hits Tondo slum area

10. Use comma instead of writing and in headlines.
Ex.: Delays, confusion bug Asiad
Lacson, Trillanes no show at SONA

11. Use semicolon to separate sentences.
Ex.: Gina Lopez heads Pasig body;
Noy swears in 35 other execs

12. Use the punctuation marks (especially the exclamation point) sparingly.

13. Use single quotes () in headlines instead of double quotes ().

14. Always give the source of a quote. Quotation marks are not necessary, a dash or colon will
serve the purpose.
Ex.: Crackdown on errant bust firms Enrile
Enrile: Crackdown on errant bust firms

15. Use the down-style only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized, unless otherwise
indicated. This is more readable because people are used to reading sentences this way.
Ex.: Faculty honors Nuez

16. Use only known abbreviations
Wrong: JEE to play Santa this Christmas

17. Dont use names unless the person is well-known, use common nouns instead.
Wrong: Santos electrocuted
Correct: Carpenter electrocuted

18. Use specific names instead of generalities
Example: Trader killed
Better: Trader stabbed to death

19. Just report the facts, do not editorialize.
Wrong: Noy gives inspiring talks (The word inspiring is just your opinion.)

20. Be positive. Dont use negatives in headlines. They weaken not only the headline but also the
stories.

HEADLINE PATTERNS
1. Crossline (one line) and two-part crossline (two lines)

XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX

2. Dropline (or Stepline)

XXXXXXXXXX
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3. Flush left

XXXXXXXXXX
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4. Flush right

XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX

5. Hanging Indention

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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6. Inverted Pyramid

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX

7. Block (flush left and right from margin to margin)
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
DIRECTIONS TO THE PRINTER




1 number of columns FL headline pattern
18 font size or points DS downstyle
TNR font or type (20 units) unit counts
B font style
1 number of lines

1 line spacing
11 font size or points
TNR font or type
N font style
text to which the direction will apply







DECK
Deck is the number of lines your headline will have.
Example:
BCIS bags medals in NEPEESA quiz bee
(1 deck)
10 more cops wanted
for Maguindanao massacre
(2 decks)


UNIT COUNTS

A count system considers differences in the widths of letters.
Capital Letters:
M, W 2 units
JLIFT 1 unit
Others 1 units
Small Letters:
m, w 1 units
jlift unit
others 1 unit
Punctuation Marks
dash () 1 units
question mark (?) 1 unit
others unit
Number digits
0 to 9 1 unit
Space 1 unit