Good and Bad Headlines

Good: An Arid West No Longer Waits for Rain

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/us/04drought.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Comment: I liked this headline because it's clear and gets straight to the point. Moreover, it's compelling enough to make me want to read the full story. Once I read the headline, I immediately wanted to know what these states planned to do now. I became interested in seeing the alternative methods they came up with in dealing with the dry conditions. Therefore, I think the headline did its job.


Bad: No Charges in Radio Death

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/ and

Comment: The first image that came to my mind when reading this headline was one of a radio lying in a puddle of blood, with its arms and legs stretched out. In other words, my image was sort of cartoonish. But once I clicked on the headline, it took me to the full article. In fact, the second page (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/03/BAGJEP0KDV1.DTL) had a better headline than the first. It provided more detail about what the story was about. By the way, the story was about a California woman who died of water intoxication after participating in a radio contest. So, I'm pretty sure that my first thought wasn't what the headline's creator was going for.