Glossary

 

 

 

ABC Audit Bureau of Circulations, the body that authenticates and publshes newspaper circulation figures.

Ad Advertisement.

Ad dummy The blank set of pages of an edition with the shapes and positions of advertisements marked in.

Ad rule The rule or border separating editorial matter from advertisements on a page.

Add Copy added to a story already written or subedited.

Advance Printed hand–out of a speech or statement issued in advance to the press,

Advertising agency An organization that prepares and designs advertisements for clients, and buys advertising space.

Agony column A regular feature giving advice on personal problems to the mainly young; hence agony aunt.

Alts Alterations made to copy or set matter.

Angle A particular approach to a story.

Angling Writing or editing a story from a particular angle, i.e. to bring out a particular aspect of its news content.

Art Pertaining usually to design and layout of pages, the use of pictures and typography in newspaper display.

Art desk Where page layouts are dawn in detail and the pictures edited.

Art editor The person responsible for the art desk and for design of the newspaper.

Artwork Prepared material for use in newspaper display.

Ascender The part of a letter that rises above its x-height. as in h, k, I and f.

Assignment A story which a journalist has been assigned to cover: a briefing.

Author’s marks Corrections or amendments by the writer on an edited story, either on screen or on proof.

Advertorial Advertising disguised as editorial material.

Back bench The control centre for a newspaper’s production, where sit the night editor and other production executives.

Backgrounder A feature giving background to the news.

Back numbers Previous issues of a newspaper.

Bad break Ugly or unacceptable hyphenation of a word made to justify a line of type, See Justify.

Banner A headline that crosses the top of a page – also streamer.

Bastard measure Any type setting of non-standard width based on columns.

Beat An exclusive story or one that puts a newspaper’s coverage ahead of another’s.

Big quotes Quotation marks larger than the typesize they enclose, used for display effect.

Big read A long feature covering many columns – usually an instalment of a series.

Bill A newspaper poster advertising the contents of the paper at selected sites,

Black A copy or carbon of a story, an electronic duplicate of a story; also used to describe certain boldface types.

Blanket Newspaper page proof.

Bleach–out A picture overdeveloped to intensify the blacks and remove the tones – useful in producing a motif to use as a display label on a story.

Blobs Solid black discs used in front of type for display effect, or for tabulating lists.

Blow-up Enlargement of a picture or type.

Blurb A piece of self-advertisement composed of type, and sometimes illustration, used to draw a reader’s attention to the contents of other pages or issues to come.

Bodoni A commonly used serif type, noted for clean lines and fine serifs.

Body The space taken up by the strokes of a letter – the density of a letter.

Body matter The reading text of a newspaper.

Body type The type used for reading text.

Bold Name given to type of a thicker than average body.

Border A print rule or strip used to make panels for stories, or for display effects in layout – used in stick-on tape form in paste-up pages.

BOT Type reversed as black on tone background.

Box A story enclosed by rules on all four sides – also panel.

Break 1 Convenient place to break the text with a quote or crosshead; 2 The moment news happens.

Breaker Any device such as a quote or crosshead which breaks up the text in the page.

Break-out A secondary story run on a page with a main story, usualy on a feature page. Also: a sidebar.

Brief A short news story, usualy one paragraph.

Briefing Instructions for a journalistic assignment.

Bring up An editing instruction meaning use certain material earlier in a story.

Broadsheet Full size newspaper page approximately 22 in by 15 in as opposed to tabloid, half size.

Bromide Emulsioned stiff paper on which photographic material is printed; any photographically printed material.

Bucket Eules on either side and below tying in printed matter to a picture.

Bureau The office of a news agency; in the US any newspaper office separate from the main one.

Buster Headline whose number of characters exceed the required measure.

By-line The writer’s name at the beginning, or near the top, of a story.

c & Ic Capital letters and lower case of type.

Cablese Abbreviated text used in copy transmitted by telegraph, i.e. to save transmission costs.

Caption Line(s) of type identifying or describing a picture.

Caps Capital letters of type.

Caslon A traditional–style seriffed type face used for headlines.

Cast off To edit to a fixed length; (n) the edited length of a story as estimated.

Catchline Syllable taken from a story and used on each folio, or section, along with folio number, to identify it in the typesetting system.

CD-Rom Compact disk read-only memory used to hold computer–accessible data.

Centre spread Material extending across the two centre–facing pages in a newspaper. Spread: any material occupying two opposite pages.

Centred Type placed equidistant from each side of the column or columns.

Century Much used modern seriffed type with bold strokes.

Change pages Pages that are to be given new or revised material on an edition, or on which advertising material is being replaced.

Characters The letters, figures, symbols, etc. in a type range, hence character count, the number of characters and spaces that can be accommodated in a given line of type.

Circulation The number of copies of a newspaper sold, i.e. in circulation; hence circulation manager, the executive in charge of distributing copies and promoting circulation, also circulation rep (representative).

City editor Editor of financial page; in US the name given to the editor in charge of news–gathering in main office.

Classifieds Smal adverts gathered into sections.

Clean up Editing instruction to improve tone of copy.

Cliché A well–worn, over–used phrase.

Cliffhanger A story that still awaits its climax or sequel.

Close quotes Punctuation marks closing quoted material.

Close up To reduce space between words or lines.

Col Short for column.

Colour Descriptive writing.

Column Standard vertical divisions of a newspaper page; hence column measure.

Column rule Fine rule marking out the columns.

Columnar space Vertical space separating one column of matter from another.

Command A keyboarded instruction to a computer.

Comp Compositor; a printer who composes typeset material or makes up a page.

Compo Composite artwork made up of type and half–tone.

Condensed type Type narrower than the standard founts; hence extra condensed and medium condensed.

Contact book A reporter’s record of useful personal contacts and their telephone numbers.

Content Material in a newspaper.

Contents bill Bill or poster advertising a story or item in a newspaper.

Copy All material submitted for use in a newspaper.

Copy-taker Telephone typists who take down reporters' copy on a typewriter or VDU (US telephone reporter).

Copy-taster Person who sorts and classifies incoming copy in a newspaper.

Copyright Ownership of written or printed material. Corr Short for correspondent.

Correct To put right typesetting errors.

Correction Published item putting right errors in a story.

Count The number of characters in a line of type.

Coverage The attendance at, and writing up, of news events; also the total number of stories covered.

Credit Usualy the photographer’s or artist’s name printed with an illustration; hence credit line.

Crop To select the image of a picture for printing by drawing lines to exclude the unwanted area.

Crosshead Line or lines of type to break the text, placed between paragraphs.

Cross reference Line of type referring to matter elsewhere in the paper.

CRT Cathode-ray tube, used as a light source to create the type image in. a photosetter

Cursive Any flowing design of type based on handwriting.

Cursor Electronic light ‘pen’ on VDU screen, used to manipulate text during writing and editing.

Cut To reduce a story by deleting facts or words.

Cut-off A story separated from the text above and below by type rules making it self-contained from the rest of the column; hence cutoff rule.

Cut-out Half-tone picture in which the background has been cut away to leave the image in outline.

Cuttings Catalogued, material from newspapers cut out and stored in a cuttings library for future reference (in US clippings).

Cuttings job A story based on cuttings.

Cypher A type character which represents something else, i.e. ampersand (&) and £ and $ signs.

Database The material to which a computer gives access.

Dateline Place and date of a story given at the top.

Dead Matter discarded and not to be used again.

Deadline Latest time a story can be filed, accepted or set.

Deck One unit of a headline.

Decoder A device for turning transmitted material into usable form, i.e. pictures or text.

Define To specify on a computer screen the material a command is intended to cover.

Delayed drop An intro which reserves the point of a story till later.

D-notice An official instruction to editors that a story is subject to the Official Secrets Act and therefore should not be used.

Descender The part of a letter that projects below the x-line.

Diary 1 The newsroom list of jobs for the day or week; 2 A gossip column in a newspaper.

Direct input The inputting of material into a computer by writers for the purpose of screen editing, i.e. by the use of VDUs.

Directory A list of stories of a given classification held in a computer and available to those with access.

Disaster caps Large heavy, sanserif type, used on a major (usually disaster) page one story.

Disclaimer A printed item explaining that a story printed previously has nothing to do with persons or an organization with the same or similar name as used in the story.

Display ads Advertisements in which large type or illustration predominate.

District reporter Reporter working from a base away from the main office.

Double The same story printed twice in the paper.

Double-column Across two columns.

Dress Redress or revision of a story; also rejig.

Drop letter An outsize initial capital letter on the intro of a story; also drop figure.

Drop quotes Outsize quotes used to mark off important quoted sections in a story.

Dummy Blank copy of the paper, sometimes half size, showing the position and sizes of the advertisement and the space available for editorial use; also mock-up of editorial pages as preparation for a new format.

Edit Prepare copy for the press.

Edition An issue of the paper prepared for a specific area; hence editionize, to prepare such.

Editor Chief editorial executive who is responsible for the editing and contents of a newspaper.

Editorial The leading article or opinion of the paper.

Editorialize To insert, or imbue with, the newspaper’s own opinion.

Editor’s conference Main planning conference of a newspaper.

Egyptian A type family which has heavy ‘slab’ serifs.

Ellipsis Omission of letters or words in a sentence, represented by several dots.

Em Unit of type measure based on the standard 12 pt roman lower case letter ‘m’; also called a mutton (In US a pica).

Embargo Request not to publish before a nominated time.

En Half an em – based on the standard roman lower case letter ‘n’.

Exp Expanded (of type).

Execute Computer command meaning to pet into effect.

Facsimile Exact reproduction of an original, as in facsimile transmission of pages from one production centre to another by electronic means.

Family All the type of any one design.

Feature Subjective articles used in newspapers, as opposed to objective news material; newspaper material containing advice, comment, opinion or assessment; sometimes any editorial content other than news.

File A reporter’s own computer input; to seed or submit a story; a writer’s or agency’s day’s output.

Files Back issues.

Filler A short news item of one or two paragraphs.

Filmset type Photoset type.

Fit-up Artwork involving several dements joined togetiher.

Flash Urgent brief message on agency service – usually an important fact.

Flashback A story or picture taken from a past issue.

Flatbed press Small, mostly old–time, press that prints from a flat surface, i.e. not rotary.

Flimsy Thin paper carbon copy of story.

Flush Set to one side (as of type).

Fold Point at which the paper is folded during printing; henec folder, a device attached to the press which does this.

Folio Page.

Follow-up A story that follows up information in a previous story in order to uncover new facts.

Format I The shape and regular features of a newspaper; its regular typographical appearance; 2 Any pre-set instruction programmed into a computer.

Forme The completed newspaper page or pair of pages when ready to be made into t printing plate (in old technology).

Fount All the characters in a given size of any type.

Frame The adjustable easel at which paste–up pages are made up from photoset and photographic elements.

Freebie Free trip, services, entertainment offered to a journalist.

Freelance Self-employed person, i.e. journalist.

Free sheets Newspapers that rely solely on advertising income and are given free to readers.

Front office Usually the advertising and editorial part of a newspaper office to which the public are admitted.

Fudge Part of the front or back page of a newspaper where late news is printed from a separate cylinder ‘on the run’, sometimes called the ‘stop press’, i.e. the presses are stopped so that the late news can be fudged in.

Full out Typeset to the full measure of a column.

Galley Shallow long metal tray on which metal type was gathered and proofed before being taken to the page; hence galley proof (still used).

Gatekeeper Sociologist’s name for the copy–tester.

Gatherers Journalists who gather and write material for a newspaper – a sociological term.

Ghost writer One who writes under another’s name; one who writes on behalf of someone else.

Good pages Pages that do not have to be changed for later editions.

Gothic Family of sanserif type with a great variety of available widths – medium condensed, extra condensed, square, etc.

Graphics Usually any drawn illustrative material used in page design.

Grot Abbreviation for Grotesque, a family of sans headline type.

Gutter The margin between two printed pages.

Hack Slang term for journalist – sometimes used by journalists.

Hair space The thinnest space used between letters in typesetting systems.

Half lead The second most Important story on a page,

Half-tone The reproduction process, consisting of dots of varying density, by which the tones of a photograph are reproduced on a page.

Handout Pre-printed material containing information supplied for the use of the press.

Hanging indent Style of typesetting in which the first line of each paragraph is set full out and the remaining lines indented on the left.

Hard copy Typewritten or handwritten copy, as opposed to copy entered into t computer.

Hard news News based on solid fact.

Head, heading Words for headline.

Header The part of a VDU screen in which commands and basic instructions are entered, and in which the computer communicates with the user.

Heavies Name sometimes given to the quality or serious national press as opposed to the popular press; newspapers that specialize in serious news.

H & J Computer term for ‘hyphenated and justified’, meaning that the material has been prepared on the screen in the length and sequence of equal lines in which it will be typeset.

Hold To keep copy for use later; also set and hold.

Hold over To keep typeset matter for later, also to HO.

Hood Lines of type above a picture or story and attached by rules top and side.

Hook A term used in some computer systems for a queue or desk to which stories can be seat after tasting to await possible use.

Horizontal make-up Page design in which stories and headlines cross the pmge in several legs as opposed to being run up and down.

Hot metal The traditional printing system in which type was cast from molten metal into ‘slugs’ for assembly into pages.

House style Nominated spellings and usages used to produce consistency in a given newspaper or printing house.

Imprint Name and address of the printer and publisher, usualy found at the bottom of the back page of a newspaper.

Indent Material set narrower than the column measures, leaving white space either at the front or at both sides.

Ink fly A fine spray that can hang in the air in rotary printing operations.

Insert Any copy inserted into a story already written or typeset.

Intro The introduction or beginning of a story,

Investigative journalism A form of reporting in which a news situation is examined in depth by a team of reporters under a project leader, i.e. as an investigation of all aspects.

Issue All copies of a day’s paper and its editions.

Italic Type characters that slope from right to left.

Jack line See widow.

Job A journalistic assignment.

Journalese Newspaper-generated slaag; shoddy, cliché–ridden language.

Justify To space out a line of type to fit a nominated width.

Keyboard The panel of keys on a typewriter or VDU by which copy is entered on to paper or a screen.

Kicker A story in special type and setting that stands out from the main part of the page.

Kill To erase or throw away a story so that it cannot be used.

Label A headline without a verb.

Layout The plan of a page.

Lead (pronounced leed) The main story on a page; the page lead.

Lead (pronounced led) The space between lines of type under the hot metal system, achieved by using strips of metal, or leads, of set points width (term still used on computer systems) Leader Editorial opinion or leading article.

Leg Any portion of text arranged in several columns on the page.

Ligal kill A legal instruction not to use.

Legman A journalist who assists with gathering the facts but does not usually write the story; hence leg work.

Letterpress A method of printing from a raised or relief surface, as with metal or polymer stereo plates cm rotary presses.

Letter-spacing Space the width of an average letter in a given type.

Lift To use, and keep in a page, matter that has appeared in a previous edition.

Light box A device consisting of a ground glass screen illuminated from below through which pictures can be viewed face downwards so that they can be cropped and scaled on the back,

Light face Type of a lighter weight or character than standard.

Lineage Computation of lines used as a basis of payment to writers; sometimes used for payment of non-staff newspaper contributors.

Line block An engraved plate, as in the hot metal printing system, which reproduced the lines of a drawing in continuous black, as opposed to the half-tone block which rendered tones by means of dots of varying density.

Line drawing Drawing made up of black strokes, as with a cartoon or comic strip.

Literals Typographical errors.

Lithography Printing by means of ink impressed on a sheet.

Local corr A district correspondent.

Logo Name, title, recognition word, as of a regular column or section of newspaper.

Long primer Old name for 10 pt type; also 1p.

Lower case Small, as opposed to capital, letters of an alphabet.

Make-up The act of making up a page, sometimes the page pian.

Masking Excluding part of a photograph by paper overlay to indicate area to be printed.

Master The basic type shape inside a photosetter from which printed type is generated.

Masthead The name or title of a newspaper at the top of page one.

Measure Width of any setting.

Medium A weight of type between light and bold, or heavy.

Memory The part of a computer that retains information fed into it; where written and edited stories are stored.

Merchandizing Information about price and place of purchase in consumer journalism features.

MF Abbreviation for more to follow.

MFL More to follow later.

Milled rule A Simplex rule or border with a serrated edge as on the edge of a coin.

Montage A number of pictures mounted together.

Mood picture (or shot) A picture in which atmosphere is more important than content.

Mop-up A story that puts together information already used in separate ways, or on separate occasions.

Morgue old name for newspaper picture and cuttings library.

Motif Drawing or picture used to symbolize a subject, or to identify a feature or story.

MS Manuscript of any text before printing.

Mug shot Picture showing only a person’s head.

Must An item that must be used, and containing must in its instruction.

Mutton Printers’ old name for an em.

Nationals Newspapers on sale all over the country.

New lead A version of a story based on later information.

News agency An organization that collects, edits and distributes news to subscribing newspapers.

News desk The newsroom, where the collection of news is organized, and where reporters are based (in US, city desk).

Nibs News in brief.

Night editor The senior production executive of a daily paper.

Nose The intro or start to a story; hence to re-nose.

NS Newspaper Society, an association for provincial newspaper proprietors in Britain.

Nuggets Small items of news; separate sections of a story.

NUJ National Union of Journalists (in Britain).

Nut Printers’ name for an en; hence nutted, type indented one nut, or nut each side.

Obit obituary item.

Offset Printing by transferring the page image from smooth plastic printing plate to a rubber roller which then sets it off on to paper.

Off-stone When a page is ready to be made into a printing plate.

Open quotes Punctuation marks denoting the start of a quoted section.

Overline A line of smaller type over a main headline; also a strapline.

Orermatter Left-over printed material not used in the edition.

PA Press Association, home national news agency in Britain.

Page facsimile transmission Method by which completed pages are digitized and reduced to an electronic signal for transmission by wire or satellte to another printing centre for simultaneous production.

Pagination The numbering of pages; the number of pages of a publication.

Panel Story enclosed in rules or borders; see box.

Paste-up The method of making up pages from photoset material by attaching them to a page card.

Personal column Regular column signed by writer (i.e. with a byline).

Photoset The name usually given to photocomposed type under computerized printing systems; hence phototypesetter.

Pica 12 pt type; unit of measurement based on multiples of 12 points (pica = one em).

Picture desk Where collecting and checking of pictures is organized; hence picture editor.

Plate Printing plate, of metal or plastic, derived from the page image.

Platen Surface which holds the paper in a typewriter or printing press and presses it against an inked surface.

Point Unit of type measurement. The British-American point is 0.01383 in, or about one seventy-second of an inch, The size of type is measured by depth in points.

Populars Mass circulation newspapers of popular appeal.

Press release Official announcement for use by press.

Print Total number of newspapers printed of one issue; also a picture or bromide printed from a photographic negative.

Print order The number of copies of an issue ordered to be printed.

Print-out A copy of material in a computer printed out for reference in advance of actual typesetting. Print-outs sometimes show the type as it will look when set.

Printing plate The plate, metal or polymer, from which the page is printed.

Processor The part of a typesetter that produces the bromide print of the type for paste-up; or produces the print from a photographic negative.

Projection The display and headline treatment given to a story in the page.

Promotion Any form of planned publicity that has a specific aim.

Proof An inked impression taken from typeset material.

Proof reader Person who reads and corrects proofs to ensure that copy has been accurately followed; hence proof marks, corrections marked on a proof.

Publishing room Where the newspapers are counted, wrapped and prepared for distribution.

Puff An item in a newspaper which publicizes something or somebody.

Pull-out Separate section of a newspaper that can be pulled out, often with separate pagination.

Pundit A regular newspaper columnist who dispenses opinion.

Qualities Serious, as opposed to popular, newspapers.

Queue A collection, or directory, of stories held in a computer – features queue, newsroom queue, etc.

Quitre Unit of freshly printed, ordered newspapers, usually twenty–six copies.

Quotes Raised punctuation marks to indicate quoted speech.

Qwerty Standard keyboard layout is on a typewriter or VDU, based on the first five characters of the top bank of letter keys.

Ragged (Left or right) Copy set justified on one side only, sometimes used in captions.

Range The number and variety of characters available in a type.

Rate card List of newspaper advertising charges based on specific sizes and placing.

Reader A proof reader.

Reader participation Editorial material or items which involve contributions by readers, such as readers’ letters, competitions and articles based on invited opinions.

Readership The total number of people who read a newspaper – not the number of copies in circulation. The estimated number of readers per copies of magazines and newspapers can vary considerably.

Readership profile A tabulated analysis of the sorts of readers that buy a newspaper or magazine.

Redress See rejig.

Reel Spindle holding a roll of newsprint; sometimes, a roll of newsprint; hence reel room, where rolls of newsprint are stacked for use.

Register The outline of printed matter as it appears on the paper; important in colour printing where the main colours are printed separately on to the picture image.

Rejlg The revision of a story in the light of later information, or a change of position in the paper, often between editions.

Release The date or time handout material becomes available for use.

Re-nose To put a new intro on to a story, using different material or a different angle.

Re-plate To replace a printing plate to allow a later version of a page on to the press.

Reporter Person who gathers and writes up news.

Retainer Periodic payment made to retain someone’s services, as with local correspondents; see stringer.

Retouching Improving the quality of a photopaphic print by the use of a brush or pen.

Reuters British based international news agency.

Revamp General change given to a story or page in the light of a reconsidered approach.

Reverse Type printed white on a black or tone background; can be done in a photosetter as reverse video.

Reverse indent See Hanging indent.

Review Assessment of arts production.

Revise To check and correct, or improve, edited material.

Rewrite To tern a story into new words rather than to edit on copy.

RO Run on (on typed copy).

Roman The standard face of a type.

ROP Run of press. For instance spot colour is printed during run of press rather than as a separate or additional process.

Rota picture A news picture obtained under the rota system, in which limited coverage of an event by newspapers is allowed on a shared basis.

Rotary press Traditional press in which newspapers are printed by the letterpress method from curved metal or polymer relief plates.

Rough outline sketch of page layout.

Rule A printed border of varying width.

Run Length of time taken to print an issue of a newspaper.

Running story A story that develops and continues over a long period.

Run on To carry on printing without changing plates for an edition.

Rush Second most urgent classification of news agency material after flash; hence rushfull, a fill version based on rashes.

Sans Sanserif-types without tais, or serifs, at the end of the letter strokes.

Satellite printing Printing at subsidiary production centres by the use of page facsimile transmission.

Scaling Method of calculating the depth of a picture to be used.

Scalpel Used to lift, cut up and place material in paste-up pages.

Schedule List of reporting or feature jobs to be covered for use in an issue of a newspaper.

Scheme To plan and duw a page; also a page layout.

Scoop Exclusive story.

Screamer Exclamation mark.

Screen The density of dots in half-tone reproduction of photopaphs.

Screen The part of a VDU on which stories held in the computer are projected for reading or editing; hence screen subbing, subbing by electronic means by use of a cursor.

Scroll (up or down) To display material on to a VDU screen so that it can be read in sequence.

Seal Standard words, often in spot colour, at the top of a page Indicating the edition; also a logo.

Section A separately folded part of a newspaper; hence sectional newspapers.

Send A command to transfer material in a computer to another queue or desk, or to the typesetter.

Separation The separate elements of a colour picture by which the colour is transferred to the page.

Sequence The order in which a story is presented (in subbing).

Series Range of typesizes, or of types.

Serif Type characterized by strokes that have little tails or serifs.

Service column An advice, or consumer, column.

Set and hold Put into type for use later.

Set flush To set full to the margin.

Set forme The last forme (of page or pair of pages) to go to press.

Set solid To set without line spacing.

Setting format Setting of a nominated size, width and spacing that is programmed into the computer, i.e. where such setting is regularly used.

Shorts Short items of edited matter, usually of one, two or three paragraphs.

Sidebar Story placed alongside a main story to which it relates.

Side-head A headline or cross-head set flush left, or indented left.

Sign-off The name of the writer at the end of a story.

Situationer A story giving background to a situation.

Sizing See scaling.

Slab-serif Type with heavy square-ended serifs.

Slip To change a page between editions, hence slip edition.

Slug-line Catchline (in US).

Snap Piece of information in advance of full details in news agency story.

Spike Home for unwanted stories. Computers also have an electronic spike to which stories can be sent.

Spill To run down and fill space (of type).

Splash The main page one story.

Split screen The use of a terminal to display two stories at once.

Spot colour Non–processed colour applied to the page during ran of press.

Spread A main story that crosses two adjoining pages.

Squares Black or open, a species of type ornament used to mark off sections of text.

Stand-first An explanation in special type set above the intro of a story, i.e. it stands first.

Stand-up drop An initial letter in large type that stands above the line of the text at the start of a story.

Star Type ornament; hence star-line, a line of stars.

Star-burst Headline or slogan enclosed in star-shaped outline, used in blurbs and advertising.

Start-up When the presses begin to print.

Stet Proof reader’s mark means ‘as it stands’.

Stock bills Newspaper display bills on fixed subject such as ‘today’s TV’, latest scores’, etc.

Stone Bench where pages were made up under hot metal system; hence stone sub, the journalist who supervised this work; stone-hand, the printer who worked on the stone (term still used in cut-and-paste page make-up).

Stop press Late news printed from a separate cylinder on to the page while on the press, or afterwards.

Strap-line Headline in small type that goes above the main headline; also overline.

Streamer Headline that crosses the top of the page, also a banner headline.

Stringer A local correspondent.

Subeditor Person who checks and edits material for a newspaper to fit set space, and writes the headline (US deskman).

Subhead Secondary headline.

Subst head Headline in place of another.

Syndication The means by which a newspaper’s material is offered for a fee for use in other publications or countries.

Tabloid Half size (newspaper).

Tag-line An explanatory line or acknowledgement under the bottom line of a headline.

Take A piece of copy, part of a sequence.

Tear-out A picture printed with a simulated torn edge, usually a flash back of t printed picture, or a part of a document; also rag-out.

Telephoto lens Camera lens that magnifies an image teiescopically.

Teleprinter Machine that prints text received by telegraphic signal.

Terminal The part of a video display terminal on which electronically–generated text is displayed and monitored; also any VDU or VDT.

Textsize A broadsheet, or full-size newspaper page.

Tie-in A story that is connected with one alongside.

Tie-on A story that is connected with the story above.

Tip-off Information from an inside source.

Top A top of the page story; mostly any story that merits a good headline and of more than three paragraphs in length.

Trim To cut a story a little.

Turn head A head covering a story that has been continued from another page (US a jump head).

Typebook Catalogue of types held.

Typechart A tabulated list giving character counts for given types.

Underscore To carry a line or rule under type.

Update To work in later information.

Visualize To plan and work out how a page or display will look.

VDU Video display unit, a device with a screen and keyboard used to display and enter text into a computer; also VDT, video display terminal.

Web-offset A system of printing in which the inked page image is transferred from a smooth printing plate on to a rubber roller and then offset on to paper, as opposed to being printed directly on to paper by relief impression.

Weight The thickness of a type.

Widow A short line left at the top of a column of reading type (usually avoided in page make-up).

Wing in To set a headline within the top rule of a panel or box, leaving a piece of rule showing on either side.

Wire A means of transmitting copy by electronic signal which requires a receiver or decoder; hence wire room, where such copy is transmitted or received.

Word processor Electronic system by which text can be keyboarded into a computer, stored, edited, amended and finally printed (i.e. processed) when required.

Work station A special Video display terminal used at a distance from the computer, with access and facilities to enable work to be done away from the main centre.

WOB White on black type.

WOT White on tone type.

x-height The mean height of letters in a type range, exclusive of ascenders or descenders.