The headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.
The large type front page headline did not come into use until the late 19th century when increased competition between newspapers led to the use of attention-getting headlines.
It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a headline and should not be set in type.
Headlines in English often use a unique set of grammatical rules known as Headlinese.
Read more about Headline: Production of Headlines, Unusual Headlines
Famous quotes containing the word headline:
“Charles Foster Kane: Look, Mr. Carter. Here is a three-column headline in the Chronicle. Why hasn’t the Inquirer a three-column headline?
Carter: News wasn’t big enough.
Charles Foster Kane: Mr. Carter, if the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1985)