Mr.

Antonio Delgado
August 15, 2012
San Antonio Central School

It is the art of arranging, correcting,
and selecting the quality and type of
news
It is also called copyediting.
One who edits copies is called a
copyreader or copyeditor
1) edits errors on grammar
2) edits errors of fact
3) edits verbose copy
4) deletes opinion/slant and libelous
statements
5) makes sure articles follow the
newspaper style
6) writes the headline
In journalism, it refers to the fact
that every time a certain term
appears in a newspaper, they are
spelled the same way.
It also covers the use of
abbreviations, titles, punctuations
and how time is mentioned.
The numbers 1 9 are written in
words while the numbers 10 and
above are written in figures.
Example:
nine students
13 children
EXCEPTIONS:
dates, address: always in figures.
proper nouns: may be written in
figures/words
beginning of sentence: always in
words
events: 1st 9th is allowed

Look for misspelled words.
Here in the Philippines, American
English is used, not British English.
Ex: color, not colour
If a word has more than one
accepted spelling, the shortest one
is preferred.
Ex: judgment, instead of judgement
The first letter of the sentence is
always capitalized.
Proper nouns are capitalized,
common nouns are not.
Ex: singer
Regine Velasquez
Small letters are usually used for
title or position.
Ex: Mrs. Cecilia Burayag, the
principal of BCIS, delivered the
opening remarks.
Capitalized titles: Governor Umali

Spell out Dept., govt, and other
abbreviations.
The abbreviations Jr. and Sr. are
allowed in names.
A title or position of a person may
be abbreviated if it appears before
the name but not if simply used in
the sentence.
Remember:
Engr. Emmanuel Delgado;
Engineer Delgado
Remember:
12 Dimagiba St.
Dimagiba Street
Acronyms are usually written in
capital letters.
Example:
DSWD
Check if the letters of the acronym
are in the correct order.
When an acronym appears for the
first time in a news story, it is
written after its meaning and it is
enclosed in parentheses.
Ex: University of the Philippines (UP)

The first sentence of a paragraph is
indented.
In news stories, the rule is one
paragraph, one sentence only.

There should be no names of
unknown persons in the lead.
Check for buried leads.
The standard lead answers the 5 Ws
and 1 H.
Check for errors in:
Tenses of Verbs
Subject-Verb Agreement
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
(agreement in gender and number)
Articles (a, an, the)
Remember:
he said and not said he;
Aquino said and not said Aquino

It is used at the end of declarative
and imperative sentences.
It is used in abbreviations such as
p.m., a.m., Jr., Sr., Pres., Sen.,
Rep., Gov., Gen., Capt., Dr., Fr.,
Atty., Corp., and Inc.
Acronyms of schools, organizations
and offices do not need periods.
Use commas:
to separate the month and day from
the year.
to separate the street, barangay,
town and province in an address
to separate facts concerning victims
and suspects.
Ex: Jolas Burayag, 17, of Barangay
San Fernando Norte
Do not use commas:
to separate the abbreviations Jr.,
Sr., or III from the name.
Ex: Emmanuel Delgado Jr.

(Filipino) Gumamit ng kuwit sa
paghihiwalay ng mga pananalitang
pasalungat na pinangungunahan ng
ngunit, datapwat, hindi, atbp.
Hal: Mayaman sila, ngunit hindi sila
maligaya.

Use colons when presenting a series of
information and use semicolons to
separate components of the series.
Ex: Elected officers of the Board of
Elders are: Dr. Arturo Guina,
President; Atty. Ferdinand Dumlao,
Vice President; Dr. Narciso V.
Matienzo, Secretary; and Dr. Poyen
Pini, Treasurer.
Use hyphen:
in most compound nouns
Ex: editor-in-chief, officer-in-charge
in fractions
Ex: two-thirds, three-fourths
(English) in numerals
Ex: twenty-two, fifty-nine
(Filipino) Gumamit ng gitling kapag
ang isang tanging ngalan ay
inuunlapian.
Hal: maka-Estrada
taga-Cabanatuan
pam-Bagong Taon
(Filipino) Gumamit ng gitling sa
pagitan ng unlaping ika- at
tambilang o oras.
Hal: Ika-7 ng Agosto
Ika-3:35 ng madaling araw
(Filipino) Sa mga salitang ang
kayarian ay inuulit.
Hal: kabi-kabila

Use a dash between two figures to
indicate inclusion of all intervening
figures.
Avoid: from Aug. 15 to 30
Better: Aug. 15 30

Quotation marks are used in direct
quotations. Indirect quotations do
not need them.
Ex: I forgot it, he said.
He said he forgot it.
Periods and commas are written first
before closing quotation marks.
Ex: Lets go to SM, the boy said.
Quotation marks are used to set off
an alias or nickname.
Ex: Ramon Bong Revilla Jr.
Juan Chua alias Boy Singkit
Do not use quotation marks to set
off titles of events, shows, movies,
books, etc.
Ex: We watched The Titanic.
But: We watched Walang Hanggan.

(English) Apostrophes are used in the
possessive form of the noun.
Ex: the teachers table
the teachers meeting
Apostrophes are used in
contractions.
Ex: Im (I am)
youre (you are)

Symbol Instruction Example
Delete editorializing words/phrases.
Ex: The very beautiful and intelligent
principal
The cops were right in arresting
Check for redundancies
Ex: the concert the concert ended
at the back of the rear
advance planning
asked a question
repeat again
REMEMBER: After editing the news
story, write 30 at the end of the
article.
REMEMBER: If the article is not yet
finished, write more at the
bottom of the page.
Wastong paglalapi ng pandiwa
Mali: Nagdala ang mga bangkay
ng mga biktima sa Gospel Memorial
Homes.
Wastong gamit ng dito at rito, din at
rin, atbp.
Wastong gamit ng sa at kay
Wastong gamit ng ang, si at ni
Wastong gamit ng nang at ng
an assemblage of words written in
bigger, bolder letters than the usual
page text at the beginning of the
news
it is not a title

1) to attract readers
2) to tell the story (in a summary)
3) to add variety of type
4) to identify personality of
newspaper
5) to index/grade the news

1. First, read the story for general
meaning.
2. Clues to the headline are usually in
the lead.
What happened?
Who did what?
How did if happen?
3. Use the shortest words possible.
Examples include:
cop policeman
nab arrest
mishap accident
up increase
down decrease
thief - robber
4. Have a subject and a verb. Avoid
starting with a verb; the headline
might sound as if it were giving
orders.
Wrong: Revise money mart guidelines
Correct: Central Bank revises money
mart guidelines
5. Use the historical present tense if
the verb is in the active voice.
Wrong: Reyes topped editorial tilt
Correct: Reyes tops editorial tilt
6. Omit the helping verb if the verb is
in the passive voice. Only the past
participle is retained.
Wrong: Drug pushers are nabbed
Correct: Drug pushers nabbed
7. Use the infinitive for future events.
Wrong: City Hall will punish anti-
squatting drive
Correct: City Hall to punish anti-
squatting drive
8. Do not use a period at the end of
the headline.
9. Omit articles (a, an, the).
Wrong: A fire hits Tondo slum area
Correct: Fire hits Tondo slum area
10. Use a comma instead of and in
writing headlines.
Delays, confusion bug Asiad
Lacson, Trillanes no show at SONA
11. Use semicolon to separate
sentences.
Gina Lopez heads Pasig body;
Noy swears in 35 other execs
12. Use the punctuation marks
(especially the exclamation point)
sparingly.
13. Use single quotes () in headlines
instead of double quotes ().
14. Always give the source of a quote.
Quotation marks are not necessary,
a dash or a colon will serve the
purpose.
Crackdown on errant bus firms Enrile
Enrile: Crackdown on errant bus firms
15. Use the down-style only the first
word and proper nouns are
capitalized, unless otherwise
indicated. This is more readable
because people are used to reading
sentences this way.
Ex: Faculty honors Nuez
16. Use only widely known
abbreviations.
Wrong: JEE to play Santa this
Christmas
17. Dont use names unless the person
is well known, use common nouns
instead.
Wrong: Santos electrocuted
Correct: Carpenter electrocuted
18. Use specific terms instead of
generalities
Example: Trader killed
Better: Trader stabbed to death
19. Just report the facts; do not
editorialize.
Wrong: Noy gives inspiring talks
(The word inspiring is just your
opinion.)
20. Be positive. Don't use negatives in
headlines. They weaken not only
the headlines but also the stories.

Enrolment ups by 18% (20 units)


1 number of columns
18 font size or points
TNR font or type
B font style
1 number of lines

1/18/TNR-B/1
FL/DS

Enrolment ups by 18% (20 units)


FL headline pattern
DS downstyle
(20 units) unit counts


1/18/TNR-B/1
FL/DS
1/11/TNR-N
1 line spacing
11 font size or
points
TNR font or type
N font style
{ - text to which
the direction
will apply

A count system considers differences
in the widths of letters.
Capital letters:
M, W 2 units
JLIFT 1 unit
Others 1 units


Small letters:
m, w 1 units
jlift unit
others 1unit


Punctuation marks:
dash () 1 units
question mark (?) 1 unit
others - unit

Number digits:
0 to 9 1 unit

Space 1 unit

BCIS bags medals in NEPPESA quiz bee
B C I S b a g s
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
(11 units)
m e d a l s i n
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + + 1 + 1
(10 units)

BCIS bags medals in NEPPESA quiz bee
N E P P E S A
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
(11 units)
q u i z b e e
1 + 1 + + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
(7 units)
TOTAL = 11 + 10 + 11 + 7 = 40 units