Headlines should hook readers

Writing headlines is truly an art form. It’s not easy to capture the meaning of a story in just a few words. And the best headline writers know their job is intrigue  readers, making them want to know more. Anne Glover, of the St. Petersburg Times, offers simple tips for writing strong headlines. The best headlines are clever without going overboard. Michael Nelson, the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star, recently wrote a column about a headline in his paper that he thought went too far and ended up misleading readers.

Your assignment: Find a headline that you like. I’m assuming it makes you want to read the story? Tell me what the headline says, where the headline was published, and why you like it. What do you think makes it work? Is it the word choice? The verb? The tone? Be specific. Post your responses in the comments section for your section by the beginning of class Tuesday, Nov. 24.

Headlines hook readers, PM class

Post your comments here if you are in the afternoon class.

Headlines hook readers, AM class

Post your comments here if you are in the morning class.

Ethnic profiling or good reporting on deadline?

Fort Hood shooting suspect

As the Fort Hood shootings story unfolded last week, many details that were reported initially proved to be incorrect. At one point, some news outlets reported that three suspected Islamic gunmen were responsible for the massacre. As the story developed, news outlets were quick to identify the shooter as a Muslim. Charlie Gibson, on ABC News, for instance called him A Muslim soldier in his first reference. Alan Mutter, a former editor and now a media consultant and professor, called the coverage “ugly ethnic profiling.” Richard Prince, in a column for the Maynard Institute, said much of the news media was careful in its reporting – but not everyone. Read both Mutter and Prince in the links I’ve included.

Now read this report about the news coverage after the Oklahoma City bombing.

Then give me your carefully considered comments in the comments section below. Was it OK to identify the Fort Hood shooter as a Muslim even before any links to Islamic extremists or terrorism were determined? Would it have been handled the same way if he was Catholic or Baptist? As breaking news develops, what kinds of questions should editors ask before race or ethnicity is included in a story? What does AP say about this? Did the story about the Oklahoma City coverage change your thinking at all?

Your comments are due at the start of class on Thursday, Nov. 12.

Ethnic profiling or good reporting? AM class

If  you’re in the AM class, post your comments here please.

Ethnic profiling or good reporting? PM class

If you’re in the PM class, post your comments here, please.

Would you run this picture?

Being an editor isn’t always easy.  Editors make dozens of decisions daily. Many of the choices they have to make aren’t black and white, but involve shades of grey. Today you are the editor. Would you run this picture? Would you run it on Page 1? Yes, that is a real dead body and real person’s legs sticking out of the ice.

Now that you’ve made a decision, read the story about this picture. Is your decision the same? Does the story change your mind? If the picture was in Detroit, would you run it on the front page of  The Detroit News? Would you run it in the Lincoln Journal Star?

Read the column written for an alternative weekly after the picture ran in The Detroit News.  What do you think of the columnist’s view? Post your well-considered answers to all of those questions in the comments section for your class. This assignment is due by the beginning of class on Thursday, Oct. 29.

Would you run this picture? PM class comments

If you are in the afternoon class, post your comments here.

Would you run this picture? AM class comments

If you are in the morning class, answer the questions about the picture here.

Anonymous sources: Are they necessary?

We talked a bit this week about using anonymous sources in stories. One question editors should ask when they edit a story with an anonymous source is “what is the source’s motive for giving me this information?” The Washington Post’s media critic, Howard Kurtz, addresses that issue in his column.   Andy Bechtel, an editing professor and former editor, blogs about the use of anonymous sources in a New York Times story about John Edwards and his mistress’s baby.  And finally the editor of the Detroit Free Press defends his decision to use anonymous sources in a story about the University of Michigan football team.

Read all three of these reports and then answer the following questions in the comments section for your class. When – if ever – do you think it’s appropriate to use anonymous sources? Why? What guidelines do you think an editor should have for using anonymous sources? Do you think the anonymous source use in the U-M football story, the John Edwards story, the Afghanistan and Paterson stories (mentioned in the Kurtz column was appropriate? Why or why not? Have you read a story with anonymous sources that made you question its credibility? Tell me about it. This assignment is due at the beginning of class next Thursday, Oct. 8.