Newspaper Ideas: Stories and Headlines

Usually the main headline has a connection with the community. It is a serious and dramatic story which has happened within the newspapers sales location and almost always has an affect upon the readers emotions, mainly sympathy through the story.

My main headline is going to be based on new local news, although my story will be made up it will still have the affect of a true one upon the readers.

Headlines:

• "Local pub gets shut down after drug scandal"
• "Two teens stuck in the mud"
• "New stars are shining for 2016"
• "Welcoming hearty Italian restaurant reopened" 
• "Could this be the next Leonardo da Vinci?"

After debating whether to go with "Local Pub Gets Shut Down After Drug Scandal" or "Two Local Teens Stuck In The Mud" I think that the best Headline which I could use as the main story is "Two Local Teens Stuck In The Mud" because it seems as though the newspaper isn't taking it seriously, that it is casual, it easily grabs the attention of my readers through confusion and concern for the two teens. It is also easy to come up with photographs for the story as in my research, Daily Post have just simply taken a picture of the location in which the incident took place. I also added in "Local" to the headline, as the readers will feel as though they can relate the two victims and this will evoke sympathy for them. I decided to go with this headline over "Local Pub Gets Shut Down After Drug Scandal" because it felt as though it was too artificial and it wouldn't really happen in a small town such as Portishead, also it would be too much exaggeration involved and may become too dramatic and like a childish story. Although I believe that it would have made an more interesting and differ from other newspapers because of the reasons I have wrote, I think it maybe too extreme for a local newspaper.

For my other local stories I will use "Welcoming Hearty Italian Restaurant Reopened" and "Dropping The Pounds And Gaining Better Bodies" as they are both less outragous and striking as my main headline. For example in my research of the Evening Post they keep their main focus on the headline and put less important stories as the bylines, "25m research centre for city", these bylines also don't affect the community as much as the headline does in a way which makes the reader feel sorry for the person in which the story is about. However I will not be doing this as my bylines are set around the community and written for the locals about well known locations. The Daily Post, frequently has community horrors as their headline and bylines, "Girl, 3, And Dad Drown In Falls Tragedy" as their main headline and "Man Collapses And Dies In Snowdon Race" as the byline. Both of these stories are striking as they hit the audience and make them feel compassion for the story and its persons, this is unlike Evening Post and will differ from my newspaper.