Thursday, March 07, 2002

Cas Scheer, my late paternal grandfather, started his career as a cub reporter for the Kenosha Evening News. One of the most important lessons he learned while working there was the need to be clear and precise in one's writing. If a word or phrase is left open to misinterpretation, Grampa would often tell me, that's exactly what will happen.

This principle is particularly true of headlines, the California haiku of journalism. Despite the fact that all editors worth their salt drill this law into their writers' heads, errors slip through all the time. Which brings me to my case in point, from the AP wire via Excite last night:




On seeing this, my first thought was "What did the Green Bay Packers do to piss off Glenn Close?"

A couple of seconds later, I figured out what the headline writer had actually intended to say. It was a realization accompanied by the welcome memory of my grandfather's warm and gentle laugh.

Posted @ 12:51 PM

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