Week 8 Abstracts

The Maynard Institute’s Newsroom Diversity Game

In this game, participants must pretend they are editors of a midsize daily newspaper whose goal is to bring staff diversity on par with diversity in the surrounding community by making a series of decisions. More points were awarded for the “best” decisions.

One scenario was that a managing editor position becomes vacant. We could choose between promoting the qualified white editor who already works at the paper, promoting the most ready minority editor who works at the paper, or conducting a nationwide search for the most qualified minority editor. According to the game, the best answer was to conduct a nationwide search, and the second-best answer was to promote the white editor.

I had chosen to promote the white editor first because I could imagine if I were in the white editor’s shoes. If I had put in my time at the paper and saw myself as a qualified for a vacant position, I would be offended if the paper conducted a nationwide search for someone else based solely on the color of their skin. If the paper conducted a search, it should be willing to hire the most qualified person, period.

Readers flummoxed by runaway headlines (2005)

This short article laments the ease with which copy editors fall into the habit of leaning on puns as crutches for headlines in a deadline crunch. The writer says there should be a two-pun maximum per section of the paper. While puns are easy fall-backs, he says the most memorable headline he ever read was “Police flummoxed by writhing raccoon,” a pun-less headline full of intrigue.

The article gave very little advice for creating good headlines other than avoiding unnecessary puns. It mentions that some stories with amazing headlines are disappointingly devoid of substance.

This article reminds me of a problem I have faced at work as a news editor. I will sometimes assign a story and work with a writer over several weeks to get it just right, only to see the story run in the paper under an inaccurate or misleading headline. I think it’s important for copy editors to read the story several times, if necessary, to get the facts straight before writing a headline. One suggestion for avoiding this inaccuracy is for editors to write a suggested headline on the story before sending it on to the copy desk. That way, the copy editor can get an idea of what the editor thinks is important about the story.

Newspapers search for Web headline magic (2007)

This article discusses techniques that online papers use for search engine optimization, or making sure that the search engine Web crawlers find their stories. Because of SEO, many clever or provocative headlines may have to be eschewed in favor of more boring but keyword-rich heads that tell explicitly what stories are about. While some papers have made major education initiatives to teach copy editors the art of SEO, the payoff, in the form of Web hits, can be huge.

In the words of The Poynter Institute’s Howard Finberg, who was quoted in the article, “How do you get eye-catching, interesting headlines that make people want to click but at the same time are relevant to search engines, which are nothing but dumb robots going around looking for keywords?” The answer, offered in the article, is to write longer headlines that offer more information while also grabbing reader’s attention.

In my experience with online journalism, I have found that the key to SEO is to include as many keywords as possible in the metadata at the top of a Web page, not necessarily in the page’s content itself. The article hints to this as well. For the coffee company story cited in the article, the metadata for the Web page would include words like “coffee” and “Starbucks.” Thus, Web crawlers would find the story regardless of the headline.

Pardon the puns: E-N headline writers told to play it straight (2006)

After a record nine pun headlines appeared on one day in the Express-News, editor Robert Rivard enacted a ban on puns. His complaint was that using puns often limits copy editors’ ability to be accurate and to reflect the tone of the story. With puns, stories are often inaccurately reflected in too lighthearted a way. (For example: “Border violence kills tourism.”) While puns can be accurate and appropriate, the all-out ban was intended to make copy editors think more carefully about headlines in general.

Like I said in my earlier abstract, I think headline writers should definitely be more careful to be both accurate and appropriate. I have experience as a copy editor, so I can appreciate the time and space constraints faced by copy editors as they work under a deadline. However, as a newspaper reader, editor and writer, I think copy editors should go beyond merely clever heds if they do not tell what is truly in the story. I support Rivard’s decision to ban puns on this premise.

For example, I recently edited a story about proposed legislation that would create a searchable Web site listing domestic violence offenders, similar to a sex offender database. I was quite unnerved to see the story in the paper the following day under the headline “Web site offers background check.” This headline implies the Web site already exists, which could seriously mislead readers, many of whom just scan the paper for pertinent information before tossing it aside.

Now, five days after the story ran in print, I can still find the offending headline in an online search of the newspaper’s Web site. This brings up another issue: Bad headlines live forever on the Web. That is, unless someone changes them. I think Web editors should encourage their staffs to revise past headlines that are inaccurate.

Story idea:

In national political campaign news, Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign aides have accused the Hillary Clinton campaign of circulating a photograph of him, wearing traditional Kenyan garb, including a white turban on his head. Clinton’s aides have responded by saying that Obama should be ashamed to view the photograph as a bad reflection on himself because wearing the Kenyan outfit is nothing shameful.

My story would include UF students’ reactions to the accusations, but only as a lifting-off point for a greater discussion on presidential campaign propaganda. I would start by interviewing the presidents of campus student groups that support Obama and Clinton to get responses to the latest smear campaign allegations. Then, I would talk to average students with no requisite level of political involvement to find out if they are influenced by political candidates on both ends of the political spectrum talking badly about their opponents. Particularly, do students receive e-mails bashing one candidate or another? Do they read negative comments made by candidates about other candidates and become confused? How do they sort through all of the campaign rhetoric and know whom to support?

I would also interview Dr. Linda Lee Kaid of the UF College of Journalism and Communications because she has done extensive research on televised political ads. I would ask her what percentage of advertisements are attack ads, as opposed to positive stance ads.