Journalism and printing jargon

About this list

Newsroom shorthand and the older vocabulary of type and presses, much of it still used after the presses stopped. Useful for newspaper novels and for period settings alike.

200 terms, A to Z

A-story

The main plot in a story, especially a television show.

all caps

Text or a font in which all letters are capitalised.

and finally

A light news story reserved for the end of a bulletin when there is a lack of more important items; typically involving animals or other features supposed to be amusing.

angle quote

A guillemet.

B-story

A subplot that appears in a screenplay or script for a movie or television show; a subplot that concerns the side-characters or less important aspects of a television show.

back gray

A piece of dark, heavy cotton cloth that is run under another piece of cloth to be printed, serving to take up the color on the roller outside the width of the print cloth.

banner

To display as a banner headline.

bar line

Synonym of crossline (“type of headline”).

below the fold

Printed on the lower half of the front page of a broadsheet newspaper, such that it is not immediately visible on a folded copy of the newspaper, e.g. as displayed at a newsstand or in a vending machine.

black letter

A Northern European style of type based on the script, with contrasting thick-and-thin, angular strokes forming upright letterforms, and usually set with a dark typographic colour on the page.

book signing

An event where an author signs copies of her/his books for fans.

book tour

A series of public events performed by authors in order to promote a newly-released book, including book signings, media appearances, etc.

camera-ready

Ready to go to press; ready for publication.

cancel

The suppression on striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages.

cap up

To modify (the initial letter of a word) to be a capital letter.

catch and kill

The media technique of suppressing a story by buying the exclusive rights to it, with a legally enforceable non-disclosure agreement, and then refusing to publish it.

chapter book

An illustrated storybook intended for intermediate readers, generally aged from 7 to 10.

characters per inch

A unit of measurement of the number of typographic characters that fit on a one inch line of printed type. This unit is mainly used to specify font sizes that have the same width for each character (monospaced),…

chase

A rectangular steel or iron frame into which pages or columns of type are locked for printing or plate-making.

chosen one

A character in a narrative work who is predestined to save the world or accomplish some other grand and heroic deed; one who is predestined to become the one.

church text

A tall, thin form of black-letter print.

city desk

The department or staff responsible for reporting and editing local news.

color separation

The process of breaking down a colored image into its component colors in order for it to be printed.

column inch

One inch of a printed column; a measure of space allocated.

compound point

An obsolete typographical construction made up of more than one punctuation mark, such as the comma dash (,—) or semicolon dash (;—).

constructed script

A new writing system specifically created by an individual or group, rather than having evolved as part of a language or culture as a natural script.

copy boy

A boy employed to carry copy and run errands.

death knock

The journalistic practice of visiting people related to somebody who has died, in order to gather information about the deceased and the manner of death.

deep background

The status of information acquired from a source that may be used, but without either naming or directly quoting the source.

dialogue tag

A sentence part that attributes a piece of written dialogue to its speaker. (e.g. In "Get out of here," he said, "he said" is a dialogue tag.)

digital press

A high-speed industrial digital printer.

doctor blade

A metal blade used in printing for scraping off excess ink or toner from the printing roll.

double angle quote

An angle quote which appears as two symbols at the beginning or end of a sentence.

double English

The size of type between double pica and double great primer, standardized as 28-point.

double letter

Two letters on one shank; a ligature.

double space

To format (a document) so that every other line is left blank, leaving sufficient whitespace for annotation (e.g. a teacher's corrections).

double-page spread

An article, advertisement, etc. spread over two facing pages.

double-space

To type (or format) text by leaving a blank line between each line of text.

double-struck

Formed in a blackboard bold typeface, in which certain lines of the character are doubled

down-page

Of an article or story, appearing in a relatively low position on the page.

down-table

Working as a copy editor or assistant editor, subordinate to others.

drop cap

A large initial letter that drops below the first line of a paragraph, usually used at the beginning of a section or chapter of a book.

drop letter

A large letter at the beginning of a line of text, positioned in a decorative way below the baseline of the rest of the type.

dry transfer

Transfer of premade letters from a sheet or letterset.

dust jacket

The detachable paper cover of a book; used to protect the binding, and to provide a blurb.

earn out

To make more money from a book than it cost to run an advertising campaign for it; to make enough in royalties to cover the advance a book received.

em rule

Synonym of em dash.

em space

A space which has a nominal width of 1 em.

en rule

Synonym of en dash.

en space

A space which has a nominal width of 1 en.

end mark

A typographic element that signals the end of an article. Often they are simple bullets, but they can also be intricate symbols.

epic formula

A metrically-suitable fixed phrase or verse that is repeated in an epic poem.

eye in the sky

A reporter who rides in a helicopter in order to gauge levels of road traffic.

feature story

A human-interest story or article that is not closely tied to a recent news event.

figure space

In fonts whose digits are of uniform width, a space of non-variable width: ⊣ ⊢ equal to the width of a digit.

flying white

A kind of calligraphic technique that involves applying a relatively dry brush at high speed to create dry, streaky strokes.

foot stick

A bevelled piece of furniture placed against the foot of the page, to hold the type in place.

forever chemical

Synonym of PFAS (“perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substance”).

forward stroke

Synonym of forward slash.

free-hanging

Not run in; on a separate line (or multiple separate lines) defined by hard returns.

French canon

Synonym of canon.

full out

Extending across the full width of a page or column, without indentation.

full point

full stop, period (British printers' term)

full-page

covering an entire page.

full-point

Synonym of full stop or period ⟨.⟩.

gods

The quadrats used by printers in throwing on the imposing stone, similar to the movement in casting dice.

gold blocking

A technique where gold foil or another metallic foil is applied using heat and pressure from an engraved block or die to emboss designs or patterns onto a surface.

grass hand

An additional worker taken on at busy times.

hair space

A piece of metal type used to create the narrowest space.

hair stroke

A fine line drawn out at the top or bottom of a letter.

hard news

Factual reportage of events which are socially or politically significant and of a serious nature, as opposed to the reporting of entertaining, humorous, or gossipy accounts of relatively inconsequential events.

hard space

A non-breaking space.

height to paper

In typefounding, the length of a type from its face to its foot.

hit piece

A published article or post aiming to sway public opinion, especially by presenting false or biased information in a way that appears objective and truthful.

hook above

A tone mark ( ̉) that indicates falling then rising tone in Vietnamese.

hot metal

Printing type cast from molten metal; hot metal typesetting.

hot take

A bold, broad, and subjective moral generalization on a situation, with little or no original analysis or insight, especially by a journalist.

human interest

A kind of journalism that discusses a person or people in an emotional way so as to arouse interest or sympathy.

human interest story

A soft news story that is intended to evoke emotion, empathy, humour, inspiration, etc., in the audience.

in-text

Synonym of in-line (“inserted in the flow of a text”)

initial caps

A casing style similar to title case except that every word invariably begins with a capital letter.

jazz poetry

A form of poetry of the 1920s employing jazz-like rhythm or a feeling of improvisation.

kill fee

The reduced fee paid to a writer whose commissioned work does not get published.

lead

To place leads between the lines of.

lead out

To pad out (text) by inserting lead slugs between words.

leading

Vertical space added between lines; line spacing.

letter case

The distinction between majuscule (uppercase) and minuscule (lowercase) letters.

letter to the editor

A letter written to a newspaper, magazine or other periodical, usually intended for publication, about issues of concern to readers.

letter-high

Synonym of type-high.

letter-quality printing

A printing method that produces solid letters that are as clear or clearer than those produced by a typewriter.

line crash

A situation where a diacritic above or below a base character extends into the area used by the preceding or following line of text.

line feed

To advance the page one line at a time, particularly in rapid succession.

line-height

The height of a line of text.

live shot

A direct shot of a reporter or anchor in a scene or surroundings outside of the studio.

long-form

Longer and more detailed than is normal.

make-ready

A sheet of paper on which overlays are pasted for printing.

makeup editor

Synonym of stone editor.

managing editor

A senior member of a publication's management team.

master copy

To transfer edits to a master copy from various stakeholders' copies (as for example with multiple authors and editors).

metal master

A metal sheet used in offset printing for carrying ink onto the rubber printing form.

middle article

A light essay of less seriousness than editorial matter.

mixed case

The use of both uppercase (capital) and lowercase (small) letters within a text.

narrative hook

A highly exciting opening to a book intended to peak a reader's interest.

news report

An individual item of news.

no-break space

Synonym of non-breaking space.

of record

Of a periodical, regarded as authoritative.

off stone

A newspaper's edition is ready to start printing.

opinion piece

An article in which the author expresses their personal opinion on a given subject.

optical size

A form of a font optimized for a certain size. For example, larger sizes lend themselves to more delicate forms that would negatively impact legibility at smaller sizes.

out of sorts

With some letters or sorts of type deficient or exhausted in the case or font.

pack journalist

A person engaged in pack journalism.

page proof

A trial page or proof that has been made up into pages.

paper jam

A malfunction in a computer's printer or a photocopier or similar device occurring when sheets of paper become jammed inside.

paragraph

To publish a brief article, notice, or announcement, as in a newspaper.

photo kill

An advisory stating that a previously issued photograph should no longer be used, for example because it was found to be fake or to violate a copyright.

photo machine

A phototypesetter machine.

picture desk

The photography department of a newspaper.

picture editor

A person responsible for searching and collecting photo illustrations.

plain point

Synonym of full stop or period ⟨.⟩.

plot hole

A gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot.

pool spray

An event in which photographers and other members of the news media are allowed to visit briefly with the US President or other top US government officials, especially on the occasion of a meeting with leaders or…

press availability

An event at which a politician is made available for questioning by the media.

press cutting

Synonym of clipping (“an article clipped from a newspaper or from a magazine”).

press pass

A card or document which grants some type of special privilege to journalists.

press proof

The last proof for correction before sending to press.

printing paper

Any type of paper designed for use in printing processes, excluding newsprint.

private-use character

A character whose use is defined by private users and companies rather than defined by a standard such as Unicode, and which therefore has no universally accepted meaning.

process color

A printing process which uses four specific colored inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK), and halftone printing plates, to reproduce a range of colors.

proof sheet

A page of proofed text; a sheet used to make corrections, emendations, etc. before being printed for use.

quick brown fox

An instance of the phrase “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”.

raised point

· (middle dot) (or sometimes . (full stop)) (the punctuation mark used as a raised decimal point in British English).

refer

A blurb on the front page of a newspaper issue or section that refers the reader to the full story inside the issue or section by listing its slug or headline and its page number.

reverse contrast

Having stroke thickness that is on an axis contrary to convention.

reverse out

To print with reversed colours, i.e. black for white and vice versa.

roman

Upright, as opposed to italic.

rough breathing

A diacritic (῾ (h)/◌̔) in Ancient, Medieval and Modern Greek used to indicate this aspiration (or its historical presence), e.g. ἁ, ῥ.

run in

(not comparable) Having been run in before or behind previous text.

run upon sorts

To use or require a greater number of some particular letters or symbols than the regular proportion, as, for example, when making an index.

run-in

(not comparable) Having been run in before or behind previous text.

screen print

A print produced by screen printing.

screen-print

To apply ink or another material onto a surface through a prepared screen, in order to create a picture, design, or pattern.

screen-printed

That has been designed or produced using a screen printing process.

secretary hand

A style of handwriting developed in Europe and used during the 16th and 17th centuries for writing English, German, Welsh and Gaelic; a variety of this style.

self-edit

To edit one's own writing while it is being written.

self-publish

To publish a work independently, without the assistance of a publishing company.

service journalism

A type of media which is focused on providing advice or other consumer-oriented content.

setting rule

Synonym of composing rule.

short cross

The short crossbar of a printer's chase.

short pull

A light impression on a hand-press.

short-form

Relatively short and punchy, lacking detail or in-depth analysis.

show-through

The undesirable situation where matter printed on one side of a sheet is visible from the other side.

silent h

A letter ⟨h⟩ that is written but not pronounced.

single angle quote

An angle quote which appears as a single symbol at the beginning or end of a sentence.

single-space

To type (or format) text without leaving a blank line between each line of text.

slow news day

A time when media organizations publish trivial stories due to the lack of more substantial topics.

small caps

Capital letters shown in the same form but in small size (typically of the same size as lower-case letters).

small letter

A character that was once stored in the bottom half of a compositor's typecase.

small text

A small size of type, in French and Italian printing, usually conflated with brevier but technically treated as 7½ Didot points.

smoke proof

A temporary print made from a thin coating of carbon deposited on the punch surface by a candle flame, used in evaluating the progress of the design of the punch.

smooth breathing

A diacritic (’/◌̓) in Ancient, Medieval and Modern Greek used to indicate this lack of aspiration (or its historical presence), e.g. ἀ, ῤ.

soft media

Any type of media organization that deals primarily with commentary, entertainment, arts and lifestyle.

soft news

Broadcast news mainly intended to entertain rather than to inform.

solid

Without spaces or hyphens.

space line

A thin piece of metal used to open the lines of type to a regular distance from each other, and for other purposes; a lead.

space rule

A fine, thin, short metal rule of the same height as the type, used in printing short lines in tabular matter.

spanish

To subject to spanishing, a printing process in which an ink is deposited on the bottoms and sides of depressions formed in a plastic material

spirit master

A two-ply sheet used in a spirit duplicator, in which the top sheet could be typed, drawn, or written upon, and the second sheet was coated with a layer of colored wax.

sports final

the edition of a newspaper that includes the last version of the sports results to be published for the day (or time block); frequently this is the last edition for the newspaper for the day (or time block)

spot color

In offset printing, any color generated by an ink, pure or mixed, that is printed using a single run.

stock character

Any fictional character drawn from some stereotype who is instantly recognizable.

stone editor

An editor who works with the compositor at the imposing stone to determine how material will be laid out on the page.

stop press

An event or news article important enough to delay or interrupt the print, or require a reprint, of a publication, particularly of a newspaper edition.

straight quote

A vertical quotation mark, ", as distinguished from a curly quote.

straight r

The usual form of the letter r (which is r), as contrasted with r rotunda (ꝛ).

suspension points

Synonym of ellipsis.

text box

A block of printed text contained within borders that is intended to be read separately from the major text of the page.

thick space

A metal block used to separate words, one third of an em in width.

thin space

A metal block used to separate words, one fifth of an em in width.

time copy

A newspaper or periodical copy that is set in type and held for future use.

to be continued

Used at the end of an episode of a serial publication or program to indicate that the story continues in the next episode.

topic sentence

A sentence at the beginning of a paragraph indicating the general matter to be discussed later in that paragraph.

total running time

The total amount of time of the taped portion of the total story time.

total story time

The total amount of time of a story or report, from the beginning by the announcer or newscaster until its end, including any tape or other material within it.

trend piece

An article explaining a trend or topical issue, often illustrated with anecdotes, statistics, and expert opinions.

turned period

Synonym of interpunct ⟨·⟩.

turned point

Synonym of interpunct ⟨·⟩.

two-line

Having a depth of body equal to double that of the size specified.

two-line English

The size of type between two-line pica and two-line great primer, standardized as 28-point.

type area

The useful area of a page of printed material without the margins.

type bar

A line of type cast in one piece, as in a linotype or typograph.

type color

A measure of how dense, bold or heavy the text appears on the page.

type design

The art of designing typefaces.

type designer

A person who designs typefaces as a profession.

type-high

Of the standard height of a line of type.

union bug

A maker’s mark imprinted on a work to show that it is sanctioned by members of a trade union. It is often a tiny elongated rhomboid containing and surrounded by, in minuscule typeface, identifying names and the union’s…

white out

To space out a composition for printing.

wire copy

A news item published by a wire service.

with privilege

used to indicate a book has been legally published or is entitled to special privileges, e.g., due to a royal monopoly

word space

A regular space between words, as contrasted with other kinds of spaces.

x-height

The distance between the baseline and midline in a typeface, typically equal to the height of the lower-case letter x.