Analysing headlines
In this post you can read the comparison and analysis of two headlines about the same topic, but each one from a different online newspaper.
The first headline belongs to CNN online newspaper and it is this one:
The second headline belongs to Fox News online newspaper and it is this one:
These two headlines talk about the same topic which is that Dwayne Johnson, who is an actor, has bought a car to his mother. The same information appears in the two pieces of news, but explained in different ways.
We can see that the pieces of news and the information is the same, so, what will make us choose between the two pieces of news is the headline. The first headline is a shorter one, it contains the basic information of the piece of news, it invites you to read it to know the details of the piece of news, in this case, the car brand, the color, etc. On the other hand, the second headline is longer, it says all the details of the piece of news, it doesn´t invite you to read eat because the body of the piece of news doesn´t say more information.
A good headline would have these characteristics: keep it as short as possible, that it immediately focuses the idea, it should be unequivocal and concrete, be accessible to all types of readers, it must be concise but grammatically and syntactically correct, it has to be preferable to use the present tense as verb tense and it is better to use an affirmation than a negation or a question mark. So, I think the headlines are not good enough to make readers want to know more about these pieces of news. A good headline that would follow the characteristics of a good headline would be: "Look at the Rock's gift to his mother", or "Would you like the Rock's mother's gift?", or "Guess the Rock's gift to his mother".
In conclusion, a good headline makes you want to read a piece of news or not. But not all headlines are good, they have to invite you to read the piece of news and this is done without giving too many details and calling the reader's attention
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