Jayaseelan Rathinaswamy

Expected outcomes: ·          Appreciation of the values of the headlines ·          Knowledge of the different kinds of headlines ·          Ability to recognize to criticize headlines styles common in the daily press ·          Skill in writing headline types and ability to use them to advantage ·          Ability to punctuate headlines ·          Skill in counting units of headlines ·          Understanding school paper’s headline schedule ·          Mastery of headline vocabulary and ability to use headline terms for the sake of simplicity, brevity, and easy reading. [open ppt ]

News comes to us from several sources including word of mouth, newspapers, television and radio broadcasts and increasingly via the Internet. Each medium has its own style, but we can also identify a journalistic register, of which newspapers are the most significant users. [open ppt ]

·       The lead is one of the basic building blocks of writing, and now more than ever, freelancers need to know how to write a lead if they want to land work. ·      A lead is your first chance to catch someone into clicking through and reading your entire story. If you’re writing news, the lead might be the only part of your story that shows up on the front page, other than the headline, so it’s got to be good enough to entice readers to want more. ·          In  fact, that’s the perfect definition of a lead – a snippet of information that turns readers into Oliver Twist, asking for more. [open ppt]

“Features put people in the story; they makethe reader think and care.” [open ppt]

HEADS: n  H - Heralds the day’s news; tells what is of importance. n  E - Entices the reader with essential or interesting facts. n  A - Advertises the most important story by size or placement on the page (the most important stories are displayed at the top of the page). n  D - Dresses up a page with typography; helps make design attractive. n  S -   Summarises  the story with a "super" lead; tells what the story is about. [open ppt]

          Summary/digest/Straight Leads           Question Lead           Punch, Capsule or Cartridge lead [open ppt]