the.com/headline
The bait that decides whether a story lives or dies unread.
means The large bold text at the top of a news story that announces and summarizes what follows.
from A plain compound of "head" (the top of something) and "line" (a row of text), born in the printing trade — originally the literal line of type set at the head of a column or page. As newspapers grew louder and more competitive, this once-descriptive label became the front-page shout it is today.
- click economy
- Eight in ten read headlines, few finish the article
- origin
- Named for the line topping a printed news page
- the rule
- Most are written by editors, not the reporter
- word power
- Single words like 'free' measurably boost clicks
- betteridge
- Headlines ending in '?' usually answer 'no'
for instance
washington post — major u.s. newspaper founded 1877, known for watergate investigation 1973
new york times — oldest continuously published major u.s. newspaper, founded 1851
bbc news — british broadcasting corporation news service, world's largest broadcast news operation