"Tighten up your writing," editors tell their news writers. "Learn how to make one word do the work of three or four."
One way to learn how to do this--how to learn the art of compression--is to practice writing captions for illustrations and headlines for stories. Here are two sets of exercises that will help you develop the skill of brevity.
The first set of six exercises includes the illustrations and explanatory matter that you are to use for your captions. Use both as the basis for the captions that you write, but remember, the briefer the caption the better. Discuss your captions with your classmates and your instructor.
The second set of exercises contains five brief news stories for which you are asked to write headlines. When you have finished, look at what one journalist produced for the five stories. You may find that yours are better than the work of the professional.
The third set of exercises consists of four long pieces you are to condense for media use.