A Study on the Transference of Headlines and Types of Preferred Headlines in Offline and Online Newspapers

With the development of the Internet, the media market is experiencing rapid change. The traditional form of offline newspaper markets, which has created the mainstream news delivery market, have been losing large amounts of power due to the emergence of online media. On the other hand, online media armed with its ability to post breaking news almost as it occurs has increased its influence and popularity at a rapid speed. However, since the exposure time and readership of online newspapers are less than their offline counterparts online media has a high dependence on sensational titles and somewhat exaggerating headlines rather than the objective and recapitulative headlines which are preferred. This paper will examine the function and significance of headlines, and conduct a comparative analysis on contents and forms of the headlines in offline newspaper and online newspaper in order to identify the characteristics of each newspaper. Through comparisons, it examines the types of headlines and the transference of headlines. In addition, it examines the differences in recognition of copy editors according to media in determining the headline, and it illuminates which type of headlines is preferred in order to instigate readers to read online newspapers. The analysis results of title-transferring cases in offline newspaper and online newspapers are that offline newspapers try to convey the contents accurately by making use of an information-transferring headline, while attention-attracting headline or subject-hiding headlines tend to be used for attracting the eye of readers. In addition, analysis results of headlines that are put on the top with a click counts in online newspapers are that attention-attracting headlines are the majority, while subject-hiding headlines that are hardly used in offline newspapers, are well-used in online newspapers. In an interview with copy editors, they responded that offline editors focus on the fact-transference in determining the title, while online editors put the weight on immediacy in the delivery of news and the function of guiding readers.