#11 Headlines and the Importance of Reading

I will start off with a personal comment. It is pretty important to do the reading every week because, if you don't, you can make a bit of an ass of yourself. I took one news writing class and thought I'd wing the leads chapter, apparently forgetting what leads are. I looked up a lot of headlines and did my best to sell them as leads. That was not a good move. Please excuse my laziness.

Now, on to actual headlines.

While scanning the headlines on Yahoo I realized many things, but the worst was how terrible people can be. The headlines for the most part are well-written, however the content leaves something to be desired.

That headline was an eye grabber, but others were just as brutal. The headline is very effective in translating the horror of the story, while also leaving you needing to read about it. I particularly like the verb shoving. It makes the act sound more brutal and with that topic, that would be hard to imagine.

As far as bad headlines, I only felt that too informative headlines about boring stories were an issue. Writing about budgetary concerns and giving away the major facts in the headline left me believing I had all the information I needed. And when the story is better than melatonin to begin with, it will always get walked right by.