Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Thoughtless Headlines

I'm not sure who's writing the headlines at the Star Tribune these days, but today's metro head about the Anoka sexual orientation policy got my attention:

Star Tribune headline, Anoka sexual policy advances
Really, Strib, is that the best you can do? It's not a sexual policy. It's about whether teachers can talk with students about the students' sexual orientation if the students bring it up. The headline makes it sound much more salacious than it is.

Last week the Strib ran this bit of smear: Amy Senser's Lawyer Claims Hit-and-Run Victim Was on Drugs. That headline wasn't inaccurate (the lawyer did claim just that, according to the story), but it blames the victim in large type.

The Pioneer Press's headline went at it differently: Attorney Says Man Amy Senser Hit Was Camouflaged by Orange Barrels. I don't think that's quite what they ran in the newsprint edition, but it definitely didn't refer to drugs. In fact, the PiPress story doesn't report on the drug claim at all.

2 comments:

Peter Hoh said...

It's an OK asexual policy.

Unemployed Dragon said...

The San Francisco Chronicle recently ran a headline on SFGate, that read:
"Five year-old shot by family taco truck dies".
I know Oakland has some tough neighborhoods, but are the taco trucks really arming themselves?

This is what happens when you do away with copy editors....