WHEN I worked at The Cavalier Daily, writing headlines was every associate editor's least favorite task. By the time anyone got around to writing them, it was late and they were tired. Headlines were subject to restrictive space and grammar rules. They were a big pain in the neck.
I'm sure things haven't changed. Remembering my own battles with opinion headlines, I've been reluctant to come down too hard on headline writers this semester. But headlines are very important. Very often, they determine whether a reader reads a particular story. Sometimes, a glance at the headlines is all a reader has time for, and so they must be as informative as possible, and it's imperative they be accurate.
The Cavalier Daily's headline quality has been inconsistent this semester, and last week's two editions included some examples of both good and bad headlines. First, the good.
Last week's best headline ran Tuesday in the Arts & Entertainment section. Topping a review of Talib Kweli's "Quality" rap album was the headline, "Talib Kweli whips up some 'Quality' raps."
The use of the album name in the headline of this positive review was a gimme. But the headline writer flexed some creative and lyrical muscle in the choice of words: "whips up."
Descriptive, pleasing to the ear and accurate, this headline made me want to read the review even though I don't care for rap music.
News headlines tend to be more difficult to write than feature headlines, because they are completely utilitarian and must condense as much information as possible into one line.
With that in mind, the best news headline of last week was Monday's "Bloomfield honor trials finish, 20 found guilty." There's the meat of the story, right there in the headline.
Anyone who didn't have time to read the story but glanced at the headline came away with the most important news enclosed in the article.
Unfortunately, not all of last week's headlines were as clean as that one. The following headline ran Monday: "IFC completes investigation of Kappa Alpha." That would be OK, except for the investigation's end was not as cut-and-dry as the headline would have you think.
The first paragraph of the story said the investigation "may end today," and in the third paragraph readers were informed that the investigation was "almost completed." As it turned out, the investigation did end that day. But, unless the newspaper is employing psychic associate editors these days, the headline writer had no way of knowing for sure that the investigation would be complete.
Also, if the investigation had been complete when the story was written, the headline should have discussed the findings of the investigation rather than its end. The findings would have been more newsworthy than the fact that investigation was over.
Also on Monday, the headline of a story about a new course read: "Women's health class enjoys successful start."
First problem is the bias. Who says it's successful? Newspapers often run headlines that impart an opinion, and that's OK so long as the opinion is properly attributed to someone and is not an editorial opinion. In this case, the headline could have read, "Students laud women's health class." Or "Students: Women's health class a success." But the way the headline read, it looks as though The Cavalier Daily is calling the health class a success. If they want to do that, fine. Just do it in the lead editorial, and not on the front page.
Second problem with the headline is that the word "start" is misleading. The semester is almost over, and the penultimate paragraph of the story states that the class won't be offered next semester. Sounds to me like the class is ending. The usage of "start" in the headline suggests that the class will continue.
Tuesday's front page also featured the following headline: "Meningitis vaccine taken from shelves."
I read this headline, and expected to read a story about the theft of a vaccine from the Student Health Center. The story, however, was about a pharmaceutical company's recall of its vaccine. When I read the subheadline, which attempted to clarify the main headline, I just got more confused. The subheadline read, "192 University students receive notice that their vaccination had potential for reduced protection."
Better to start the headlines with "Company recalls meningitis vaccine," or something similar, and then clarify in the subheadline that the recall affected the University.
Headlines are important. It's easy in the editing process to just make sure all the words are spelled right and that no major grammatical errors are made. But if the editors take more time to think about what exactly the headline is saying, the headlines will be more accurate and informative.
(Masha Herbst can be reached at ombud@
cavalierdaily.com.)
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