I saw this headline from The New York Times on a friend’s Facebook page (thanks Helene) and couldn’t resist — I asked if it may have been the presence of Bay City Roller albums that caused all of the opprobrium.
Poll Finds Disapproval of Record Collection, but Little Personal Concern
It is not about vinyl records, of course, but about the current scandal over the National Security Agency’s civil-liberties-wrecking data-mining program.
I’m adding this headline to my list of head-scratchers for when my news-writing class starts back up in the fall. It shows, I think, both a generational divide among copy editors and a blindered focus that allowed the desk to miss the possible multiple meanings.
Another headline on my list is this one from last week on NJ.com:
Body of man accused of attacking wife with hot oil pulled from Passaic River
Confusing, right? Was it the body of the man or the man who was accused? Was the wife attacked with hot oil pulled from the river or just hot oil?
This one, I think, is easily fixed:
Body pulled from Passaic ID’d as man accused of hot-oil attack on wife
I am not showcasing these to make fun of them (well, just a little), but to point out something that all young journalists need to understand. Clarity is key. The words you choose matter, as does the order in which they are written.
Hank Kalet 