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Post Info TOPIC: Are news headlines now being written by five year olds?
Mike Harding


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Are news headlines now being written by five year olds?
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For some time I have frequently been confounded by headlines on news website, often they are simply incomprehensible: as an example I offer from today's The Age on-line the headline:

"400 Gradi to bring a pizza the action to Mornington"

What the hell does that mean!?

If one is sufficiently bored to click on the link this is what you get:

The Age link

I don't have much time or respect for most journalists but I would hope they would, at the least, be able to compose a simple, understandable, sentence in English.



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Whenarewethere


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I think they ment

400 grade paper action in morning. But it's not clear if it's wet & dry!



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dorian


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Mike Harding wrote:

For some time I have frequently been confounded by headlines on news website, often they are simply incomprehensible: as an example I offer from today's The Age on-line the headline:

"400 Gradi to bring a pizza the action to Mornington"

What the hell does that mean!?

If one is sufficiently bored to click on the link this is what you get:

The Age link

I don't have much time or respect for most journalists but I would hope they would, at the least, be able to compose a simple, understandable, sentence in English.

It's-a like-a dis:

"a pizzeria named '400 Gradi' to bring a piece of the action to Mornington"

 



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Craig1


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looks like raw onion rings to me

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Santa


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See a lot of this type of rubbish in Good Food, I don't even bother with their cash for comment ramblings now.no



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Buzz Lightbulb


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I've also noticed that many headlines don't make sense. I think that they might be 'click bait'. It's certainly caught me a couple of times.



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Tony LEE


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Sigh! Hope pun-intended (but not clearly flagged for the pun-challenged) isn't going to go the way of irony and gentle sarcasm.

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RichardK


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I formed the opinion long ago that whoever the journalists work for are that tight these days that proof readers are not used, indeed, some sentences have to be read several times to understand them and requires changing the wording.
The sentence composition and punctuation in digital news is nowadays appalling.

RichardK



-- Edited by RichardK on Thursday 15th of July 2021 10:45:29 AM



-- Edited by RichardK on Thursday 15th of July 2021 10:51:56 AM

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KJB


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RichardK wrote:

I formed the opinion long ago that whoever the journalists work for are that tight these days that proof readers are not used, indeed, some sentences have to be read several times to understand them and requires changing the wording.
The sentence composition and punctuation in digital news is nowadays appalling.

RichardK



-- Edited by RichardK on Thursday 15th of July 2021 10:45:29 AM



-- Edited by RichardK on Thursday 15th of July 2021 10:51:56 AM

 

 I think that calling them a "Journalist" is being kind.    



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Mike Harding


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Tony LEE wrote:

Sigh! Hope pun-intended (but not clearly flagged for the pun-challenged) isn't going to go the way of irony and gentle sarcasm.

Tony Lee: Do you have a sideline job as a website headline writer?



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dabbler


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You need to get out more (Covid permitting) if you can't understand that headline.

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Tony LEE


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Mike Harding wrote:
Tony LEE wrote:

Sigh! Hope pun-intended (but not clearly flagged for the pun-challenged) isn't going to go the way of irony and gentle sarcasm.

Tony Lee: Do you have a sideline job as a website headline writer?

 No Mike. Already fully occupied in correcting all the wrong stuff on the internet. 



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RichardK


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KJB wrote:
RichardK wrote:

I formed the opinion long ago that whoever the journalists work for are that tight these days that proof readers are not used, indeed, some sentences have to be read several times to understand them and requires changing the wording.
The sentence composition and punctuation in digital news is nowadays appalling.

RichardK



-- Edited by RichardK on Thursday 15th of July 2021 10:45:29 AM



-- Edited by RichardK on Thursday 15th of July 2021 10:51:56 AM

 

 I think that calling them a "Journalist" is being kind.    

 yes totally agree



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Santa


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The term journalist is used pretty loosely nowadays, string a few words together, get them published in some rag, bingo, you're a journalist.



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Dicko1


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dabbler wrote:

You need to get out more (Covid permitting) if you can't understand that headline.

 Maybe you need to get a life if you understand the so called heading...



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dabbler


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I have a life, thanks for your concern Dicko. The headline is easy to understand if you realise that business establishments can use any name they like and presumably the customers they seek will also like.

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Whenarewethere


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Santa wrote:

The term journalist is used pretty loosely nowadays, string a few words together, get them published in some rag, bingo, you're a journalist.

 & they are actually an ad disguised as so called news with no disclaimer.



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