And now, for your "V for Vendetta" moment of the day...

[missroserose]

Passenger At Orlando Airport Had Bomb Materials, Literature in Bag

A quick perusal of the article clears things up - the “literature” referred to in the headline was instructions for bomb-making. But still, the juxtaposition of the terms “bomb materials” and “literature” is a bit chilling - although you could certainly make the case that both are equally dangerous. (Or even equally destructive, if the literature is bad enough. =)

Comments

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I understand the pressure a page designer is under to compress facts to create a headline that fits inside a limited space, but that's just wrong. "Bomb-making instructions" <> "literature" -- it makes it sound like somebody's carrying a pound of cordite and a pocket Ernest Hemingway. (And in that context, is that so disturbing? "Oh my God! He might blow up the plane! And he's taken a keen interest in terse American short fiction!")

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Well, headline-writing is basically the art of catching attention - and one of the more underhanded but effective ways to do so is by misleading people and making them think the headline precedes an article on something inflammatory. One of my favorites was a couple years back, shortly after Massachusetts passed its gay-marriage laws. The headline read "Coppola, Tarantino to wed" - which, to my non-Hollywood-following eyes, looked like Quentin and Francis Ford had shacked up together somewhere in Massachusetts. =)

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite headline-writing moments remains one of my favorite quotes, ever -- it was the day of the K-State/Colorado game, in Boulder, and I can't even remember the outcome (given the timeframe, I'm pretty sure we won) and so the page designer was trying to come up with a good bold headline for the sports page and asked the managing editor, who replied in a perfectly bitter tone:

"Hey, Jon, describe the Colorado game in three words."
"I. Didn't. Go."

[tinydoctortim.livejournal.com]

Literature strikes fear into the hearts of many, you know. Government leaders and other persons in positions of power have historically been terrified of it.