Headlines

Headlines from today's LA Times

Bad:

McCain gambling on offshore drilling

The headline is poor because the writer tried to do a play on words for a serious story. The word gambling is misleading.

Good:

State acts to fight global warming

The headline follows subject-verb-object format. It is good for searching on the web. The readers gets a good idea of what the story is about.

Good and bad headlines

The bad headline I found comes from the front page of the New York Post. The headline reads CBS News Beauty in Iraq Shock, Sexty Minutes. This head is confusing, sexist and just plain bad writing. Puns are the lowest form of humor, but more importantly they're lazy writing.
You can see it here at the newseum's website. http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=NY_NYP&ref_pge=lst

The good headline I found comes from the Washington Post style section and reads, Much-Decorated Marine Vet Takes Aim at Iraq war Movies. The headline is good indicator of the article, uses language well and is catchy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/25/AR2008062503428.html

Headline

Good:Americans may hold a key to gas prices
With the ongoing problem of high gas prices the US faces, this pulls readers in because they are interested in what this news in gas means. It also is a play on driving, because they hold keys to start cars and they also hold a key to gas prices as said in the headline.

Bad: Construction Worker Rescued After Fall
This headline doesn't quite explain the severity of the fall and might have some readers confused. If the man just fell into a shallow pothole did he really need rescuing? The description of the accident should be more clear.

headline assignment

Bad:

From today's USA Today: British man gets life in deaths of wife, baby

The word "in" should be replaced with "for" to make the sentence more clear. The phrase "life in deaths" is confusing and makes it unclear that "life" refers to a life sentence.

Good:

From this week's New York Times: A master of words, including some you can't use in a headline

This is a headline for an appreciation piece on George Carlin. I thought it was slightly humorous, which is an appropriate tone for this headline.

- Ben Penn

Headlines

Poorly chosen headline from the front page of today's Post:

High Court Rejects Death For Child Rape

It almost sounds as if a trade were proposed between two legal teams- which in a way is true, but I think they could have done a better job here- especially considering this was the lead story.

Clever headline from today's Style section:

Old-School's In for Summer

I like this style of headline- a nice play on words get's me interested and the lead pushes me further... story is about the resurgence of various pop-culture items.

headline assignment

Bad:

Obama Slams McCain Nuke Plant Plans In Nevada

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080625.htm

The headline is too comprehensive and requires a second read. I would go with:

Obama: No to McCain's Nuclear Plant Proposal

Good:

Wrist Watch: Red Sox' Ortiz Needs More Time

Washington Post

David Ortiz' wrist has been in the news for a while and I like the play on wrist watch.

Headline Assignment

Good Headline:

What "Trumbo" tells us about American evil

http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2008/06/26/trumbo/

It is very clear it is about a piece of work because it's in quote and it interests me who find out what it does tell us about.

Bad Headline: From ESPN: "Djokovic sent home early"

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/wimbledon08/news/story?id=3460043

It seems too vague and only someone who watches tennis would know the name and who it is referring to.