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Filling out headlines

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by copperpot, Mar 3, 2008.

  1. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    Mixing school names and nicknames? Yuck.
     
  2. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    I know now. Thanks.
     
  3. Angola!

    Angola! Guest

    That's fucking ridiculous.
    Does news have to follow the same rules? Are they not allowed to use Obama or McCain or Clinton? If they still get to use last names, then I'd just tell him to go fuck himself.
     
  4. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    Seriously. Who in the hell sits around and thinks this shit up?
     
  5. RossLT

    RossLT Guest

    Nope news can use any names they want, but sports no way. We have a debate on which names are acceptable on an almost daily basis. He says no to almost all of them cause he doesn't give a shit about sports, except our NAIA D2 School
     
  6. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    I was taught (pre-pagination) no more than one count short on a hed over three or more columns, no more than two on a two-column, no more than three on a one-column. Some of the computer systems back then would not allow you to do non-standard point sizes, in other words, there was nothing between a 42-point hed and a 48-point hed. You could squeeze a little. But usually you had to just rewrite the hed until it fit. And on some papers, it was a matter of pride to get perfect fits, or close to it.

    The first time I worked with a really good AME/Design -- he runs a whole newsroom now -- I was diddling with the hed and he said, "I don't think you need to be that anal about getting a perfect fit." I was like, "I don't?" Job became so much easier.

    First time I dealt with pagination, I was ME on a 60K daily and the desk person put about 20 words in a hed stretched across the page and kept sizing it down till it fit. I was like, "No, no, no, no. Too many words, too small of a hed. We can't do that." It really looked like shit. She looked at me like I was from Mars. Like, why not, the computer can do it.
     
  7. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    Not smart if he wants to keep his job.

    Having said that, there must be a way to tell him to fuck himself without actually, you know, telling him to fuck himself.
     
  8. RossLT

    RossLT Guest

    I'll pull a Half Baked when I quit
    Sacrface:fuck u, fuck u, fuck u, you're cool, fuck u, I'm out.

    I'm gonna leave and go to grad school anway
     
  9. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    Don't burn bridges. Even that one.

    You never know when that curmudgeon is going to bite you in the ass in your later career.

    Of course, if he's still at The Podunk Daily when you get to hire Ace at the Plain Dealer, then you can tell the guy what a toolbag he is.
     
  10. At my last shop, we had one desk guy who used abbreviations for all our local high schools.

    So our sports-front heds would be something like "SHS beats LHS."

    Our SE cracked down on it, but the desker in question would still try to slip it in once in a while. Drove me fucking insane.
     
  11. Jeremy Goodwin

    Jeremy Goodwin Active Member

    It's an example. Those were the first things to come to mind. I don't normally mix and match.
     
  12. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Good guideline, but I would not make it an absolute rule.

    I believe for, say, a South Florida readership, "Hurricanes ready for Clemson's blitzes" is much better than "Hurricanes ready for Tigers' blitzes" simply because there are so many "Tigers" (and Bulldogs and Wildcats and Eagles) in college and high school sports.

    Clarity is more important than parallel nicknames.
     
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