Why word the headline like this?

[Mike_Lowery]

Flight attendant, 30, drowns at Kalapaki

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2...ews/news02.txt



Why'd they have to say his job? Couldn't it have just said "Man, 30, drowns at Kalapaki"? Were they trying for dramatic emphasis by saying a flight attendant can't swim? I'm just wondering how journalists choose to word things.

[buzz1941]

Re: Why word the headline like this?

It's a detail, the sort of thing that provides information. The hed could have gotten rid of ALL detail and just said "Man drowns." But that tells you very little.

[MyopicJoe]

Re: Why word the headline like this?

Were they trying for dramatic emphasis by saying a flight attendant can't swim? I'm just wondering how journalists choose to word things.

I suppose they could have wrote, "Person dies."

People drown all the time. People die all the time. Sadly we need something interesting to grab our attention these days.

A good writer can say a lot while using the minimal amount of detail. When I read "flight attendant" I had a subconscious train of thought that went something like this:

"I wonder if they were local or mainland? Oh mainland. I wonder if he had a girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/family waiting for him to return. He traveled to "paradise" but now he's not coming home. I wonder if it was his first time here. Perhaps he depended on his coworkers to show him around; to warn him of any dangers. I wonder how guilty his coworkers feel. Will his family fly to Hawaii? What would it be like to sit on a 5 hour flight just to ID the corpse of a loved one? How much will it cost to ship his body back? Can his family afford it? What if they can't?"

Naturally all of that wasn't conscious to me when I read the headline, but that simple detail got my mental gears going. It hooked me enough to get me to spend some time learning about him, and perhaps a little piece of this person's soul will live on because of it.

[MyopicJoe]

Re: Why word the headline like this?

As an exercise, I thought of alternative headlines (details all made up):


Visitor, 30, drowns.

Mainlander, 30, drowns.

Father, 30, drowns.

Divorcee, 30, drowns.

Muslim, 30, drowns.

Dark skinned man, 30, drowns.

Obnoxious man, 30, drowns.

Homosexual, 30, drowns.

Short man, 30, drowns.

Sex offender, 30, drowns.

Hispanic, 30, drowns.

Drunk, 30, drowns.


"Flight attendant" strikes a decent balance between interesting detail (that can be accurately researched with limited time and limited info released by police) and respect for the deceased and his family. Minimizing the number of letters used also conserves precious print space.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Why word the headline like this?

There were two stories on the same page in either the SB or the Advertiser back in the 70's. One was about a recall on defective condoms and the other was about a sinking of a large cargo or fishing boat.

One headline read: Condoms Recalled.

The other read: Seamen Safe

[Karen]

Re: Why word the headline like this?

LOL!! stop it, Craig....no, not serious, but dang my side may start to ache...LOL....good one.

Okay, about the title of this thread....various journalists word things differently for varying reasons. Some want to make it most interesting, and others want readership and so they title things to get the most peoples' attention and yet others....yeah, they do exist that have an agenda so wording things a certain way, at times is because of their agenda or agendas.

Did you see the video of annoying Katy Couric when she finally got to anchor on an election night? SOMEONE......got video of her during breaks, when not on air and she was shown online at youtube or somewhere...did I post the link here? I did at some forum I frequent anyway, (yeah, I am not forum-monogamous, LOL) she was trying to find an adjective that made her story sound as serious or alarming or suspicious as she wanted it to be, and the story, though vague now was something.....about the pentagon. Yeah, lemme guess she's anti-military and anti-war, so that story had to sound a certain way to her, and the video was broadcast.

It didn't just show things about Katy dear, it showed us how broadcast journalist do have the freedom and sometimes the agenda to wordcraft.....to make themselves happy, per an agenda or prejudice. Duh....as if we didn't know this already, but hey! proof rocks.

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: Why word the headline like this?

There were two stories on the same page in either the SB or the Advertiser back in the 70's. One was about a recall on defective condoms and the other was about a sinking of a large cargo or fishing boat.

One headline read: Condoms Recalled.

The other read: Seamen Safe

ba-dunk CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!

[MyopicJoe]

Re: Why word the headline like this?

(yeah, I am not forum-monogamous, LOL)

LOL

moral standards are on the decline!