A regional daily headline which its editor said he “waited 30 years” to write has gone viral with more than 1,000 shares on Twitter.

Saturday’s edition of the South Wales Argus carried the headline ‘Man Bites Dog,’ the traditional journalism school definition of what constitutes a news story.

It was tweeted by Adrian Masters, the political editor of ITV Cymru Wales with the tagline:  “For journalism students everywhere.”

The story has been re-tweeted more than 1,000 times, with Argus editor Kevin Ward himself tweeting:  “I’ve waited 30 years to write that headline.”

In a blog post, Adrian said the headline was the last thing he expected to see when his copy of the Argus came through the letterbox on Saturday.

“I certainly gasped with surprise when I saw the front page headline. I knew that the Argus editor Kevin Ward has been making a determined effort to devote the paper’s front page to dramatic photographs and headlines, but this was something else.,” he wrote.

“‘Man Bites Dog’ is the way journalists are taught the difference between news and non-news. ‘Dog Bites Man’ is not a story. Rearrange the words though so that they become ‘Man Bites Dog’ and that’s unusual, that’s news.

“However while all journalists may be taught it, none of us have ever seen it as a real headline. That’s what caused my surprise and led me to take a picture and tweet about it.

Added Adrian:  “At the time of writing it has been retweeted over 1,000 times not to mention the hundreds of favourites and comments.

“And I think that shows how many people share an interest in the production of news and recognise a good headline when they see one. It also shows how quickly information can travel the globe in the digital era.”