Page:Newspaper writing and editing.djvu/290

 give a false impression of the news in the stories to which they are attached. The reader tends to carry over into the news story the impression which he gets from the headline, and a "colored" head, therefore, tends to "color" even an impartial, accurate news story. Headlines likewise should not comment on the news; comments on the news should be made in the editorial columns.

Divisions of Headlines. The headline is composed of one or more divisions called "lines," "decks," or "banks." These divisions are separated by dashes and are frequently different in form and in size of type. In the following head, each deck has a distinct form and size of type.

3-part        | ONE GIRL'S ACT                        | drop-line     |  PREVENTS 60,000                      | |  FROM WORKING                        | -    | -                       | 3-part         | She Refuses to Join the Union and     | pyramid       |   Every Mill Owner is Against         | "bank"        |         Closed Shop                   | -    |  -                      | cross-line     | WEEKLY LOSS $2,500,000                | -    |  -                      |               | Says She Quit Organized Labor Because | 4-part hanging |  She Does Not Believe In It          | indention     |   and Declares She Will Not Return    | |  Despite All Threats. |

Headlines are constructed on the basis of the four forms that appear in the above example, which may be