At the beginning of a newscast or on the front page, when an upcoming story is referenced near the start or on the frontpage - in journalism jargon, we call this a 'teaser'. It is not the whole story, just the headline, with a brief description of the story. [This might be similar to the translation of 'civetta' as a 'flirt' (being similar to 'a tease'). Other more formal terms for newspaper layout are 'subhead,' 'dek/deck,' - and if 'teaser' is too risqué, a synonym used is 'blurb.' But 'deck' is really a subtitle-like headline under the main headline. So, I would stick with 'teaser'. 'civetta' is not exactly a 'promo' - but it could be translated this way. [In TV journalism jargon it's specifically also known as a 'cold open.]

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Note added at 14 hrs (2010-06-07 22:30:16 GMT)
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To emphasize better why I select 'teaser' (a common journalism jargon) as a translation for 'civetta' comes from a translation for 'civetta' as a 'tease' or 'teaser' in some dictionaries[http://www.wordreference.com/enit/tease]. It seems someone has taken this common English jargon and translated it to Italian - and now it's a question of reverse translation.

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Note added at 1 day11 hrs (2010-06-08 19:58:01 GMT)
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Further explanation might be needed for my answer: I found this blog entry similar to my point - "A newspaper billboard is called in italian "civetta", which is literally little owl, but also means coquette, flirt or tease. So these devices are commonly referred to as "civette" because their purpose is to entice the passer-by into buying the actual paper." [source http://triestedailyphoto.blogspot.com/2009/02/carnival-owl.h...] As well, a nice practical example of how teaser is used in journalism-speak: "Users should be able to glance at the teasers and get an idea of what is going on inside. Text-only teasers cannot convey information as quickly as combinations of text and graphics can. Teasers also can help create an information hierarchy, so readers will instantly know the highlights of the paper." [source http://www.brasstacksdesign.com/benton_mission.htm] This figurative translation from La Biblioteca di Republica Dizionario di Italiano-Inglese for civetta as a coquette, flirt; is similar to the nouns tease or teaser. And here's another dictionary online definition of teaser as journalism jargon "a short line of copy set in a distinctive type above a headline and intended to call attention to it." [source http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/teaser] And similarly "Teaser - used in print publications. Typically a graphical element hyping a story somewhere else in the publication." [source http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/215516/the_jargon_o...]. Given that 'civetta' has been translated as 'tease' in some dictionaries as 'civetta' and vice versa, and 'teaser' is a frequently used jargon of journalists - including my professors where I took my degree in journalism - this was how I concluded to translate the one word in question as another single word, teaser. There are lots of newspaper layout words for the various boxes and sections of a newspaper's 'prima pagina' - but I was unable to see their etymological connection to the Italian word 'civetta.'