Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Women lose jobs in broad restructuring.

Some years ago, the very headline directly above ran in The Wall Street Journal. A joke some writer got through his editor. Another I remember from Newsday, "Man kills kids, self; wife critical." You bet she's critical--she has every right to be.

I bring these dumb but true headlines up for a couple of reasons. First, I find them funny. And second, as Yogi Berra might remark, "If you have nothing to say, don't put it in headline."

In other words, if it's banal and obvious, look for another lede.

Speaking of headlines, Adweek has a doozy in this week's issue: 'Old Media' Still Resonate, Survey Says. Wow. You mean life as we know it hasn't gone down the tubes because of the internet? Astonishing.

I suppose the reason I find this Adweek's headline so asinine is that I am absolutely against absolutism. Many in the industry, especially those involved in new media, paint an absolutist's portrait of what they call the media landscape--it's a world that is devoid of television, print, etc. That's nonsense and I suppose salesmanship. Either way, it's inaccurate.

1 comment:

Moda di Magno said...

I'm guessing newspaper dudes spend a lot of time coming up with those lovely headlines.