Couched within Sperber and Wilson's (1986) relevance theory, the paper makes the claim that headlines are designed to optimize the relevance of their stories for their readers: Headlines provide the readers with the optimal ratio between contextual effect and processing effort, and direct readers to construct the optimal context for interpretation.
Pecker knows with some precision which stars sell (Kelly Ripa, Jennifer Aniston, Brad and Angelina, and, for the older generation, Dolly Parton and the Kennedys), and which phrases draw readers (headlines with the words "sad last days" and "six months to live").
The biggest e-reader headline is Amazon's new touch-screen color tablet, called the Kindle Fire.
The biggest e-reader headline, no doubt, is Amazon's new touch-screen color tablet, called the Kindle Fire.
Anyway, it is also the case that many newspaper readers scan headlines without necessarily reading the article.
Type sizes can be controlled by readers, and headlines for the main articles once again link directly to the reports, rather than taking readers through department home pages.
According to Trinity Mirror's digital editor-in-chief at its regional titles, Alison Gow, many newspaper website readers scan headlines and then go to the comments thread without bothering to read the copy (the facts).
Through the decades, Marcus has filled his column's slots with capsule album or concert reviews, but also with letters and e-mails from friends and readers, newspaper headlines and cable-news reports, TV ads, art exhibits, novels, magazine articles, a bit from "The Colbert Report," a street singer he observed while visiting Portugal, and many other things besides.
Through the decades, Marcus has filled his column's slots with capsule album or concert reviews, but also with letters and e-mails from friends and readers, newspaper headlines and cable-news reports, TV ads, art exhibits, novels, magazine articles, a bit from "The Colbert Report," a street singer he observed while visiting Portugal, and many other things besides.
For those who work in journalism, standfirsts are a vital part of the 'furniture' that summarises a story, fleshing out the necessarily limited details in the headline, but to many readers the headline is all – and should, on its own, be a fair representation of the story.
"If we got any closer to our readers," the headline declares, "we'd have to use protection".
