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'Says' isn't a magic headline word
 he stylebook of my employer, The Washington Post, contains a nice entry on a headline rule that I hold dear: You can omit the helping verb only in the main verb of a headline. Even at The Post, however, this rule isn't always followed. Here's an example (not from The Post):
Gingrich says bill unfairThat's by no means the worst error you can commit, but it just isn't right. You can't "say x unfair." You can call x unfair, you can label x unfair, you can even proclaim x unfair, but the word "say" wasn't built to work that way. You can get around the problem; the following alternatives are perfectly acceptable: Bill unfair, Gingrich saysThis isn't an easy concept to explain. Half of you are probably nodding in agreement because it's such an obvious point, while the other half are thinking, "What is he talking about?" If you don't get it, you don't get it. Here's how the Post stylebook puts it: Auxiliary verbs and forms of the verb to be may usually be omitted, but they are required in the progressive and after says:Says isn't always the culprit. Here's another example: 4 AmericansNote the secondary headline (the "bank hed" at The Post, the "deck" at the Washington Times, the "subhed" at some other papers): After Kasi convicted whom? You simply cannot assume the reader will fill in the was or is for anything but the main verb. Possible alternatives, in this case: Oil Company Workers |
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