1. Headlines, teasers and lead

2. A headline is the bold, larger text on top of a story

3. It is not a complete sentence.
It is often limited to 5-10 words
It is often in present tense

4. A teaser is what is said orally to get a viewer to watch the news; or online to get a user to click

5. A lead is the first sentence of the story.
It is a complete sentence, with a subject and predicate, with articles.
It can be up to 30 words long.
It’s longer to add more context than a headline
If is often past tense because it already happened but can be future or even a form of present (it shouldn’t sound forced)
We will be writing LEADS in this class and some headlines. These should be distinctly different.

7. Here are some side-by-side looks
Headline style
Correct
Purdue alumnus shares secrets of success with current students. (Present tense, no articles, too short so no context)
A Purdue alumnus shared his secrets of success with current students during a talk Monday. (It already happened, so past tense. Articles make it a complete sentence, the way we talk. We add words to give it context).

8. Headline style
Correct
City Council cancels recycling. (Present tense, no articles, too short so no context)
The City Council eliminated curbside recycling Monday to save money. (Articles, past tense because it already happened, more words to add context, day of week to show it is new)

9. You mostly will use past or future
Headline style OK
City Council doubles parking restrictions near campus. (Present tense, no articles, too short so no context).
The City Council on Monday doubled the number of streets with parking restrictions in a near-campus neighborhood. Students will have a harder time finding parking near campus because of new restrictions passed Monday by the City Council.

10. If you use present, you need an acceptable form
Like present progressive: Curbside recycling services are being eliminated in West Lafayette to save money.