Good and Bad Headlines

We spent a lot of time in class a couple weeks ago and I found a good and bad headline to show:

GOOD: "Knox's Parents Probed for Alleged Defamation"

This headline appeared on ABCNews.com today and this is a solid for the online platform. It is straightforward and clear, it does not contain jargon, and you can read it one time and understand the meaning of the story. The other thing that is good about this headline is that it contains many search terms such as "Knox," "probed," and "defamation" which would probably do a good job to find the article.

BAD: "White House to 'Name-and-Shame' Lenders

This headline also came from ABCNews.com today on the front page of the website. This headline is not terrible but it has a possible double meaning. At first when I read it I thought it was an incomplete statement such as the White House talking to lenders and the lenders were the ones that were naming and shaming. After I read it a couple of times I read it correctly; the White House will be identifying bad lenders. I'm not sure if the quote is the best thing to put here; perhaps it should be more direct such as "White House to Name Bad Lenders." Additionally there are not as many good search terms because 'Name-and-Shame' could turn up unrelated results. 'White House" is also extremely common and could turn up unrelated results. While this headline is not terrible, it could use a little work.