Sale of Chrysler is 'Fiat accompli'
Tube strike gives London commuters the shaft
Feds let 10 banks out from under TARP
Trump to Miss California: 'You're fired!'
Headlines revisited
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query headlines. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query headlines. Sort by date Show all posts
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Saturday, September 8, 2012
From the copy desk ...
More headlines I might have written:
Mullet at center of barberous incident
... about the leader of the Amish clan members accused of cutting off their enemies' beards.
'Oh, the technology!'
... on how, 75 years after the Hindenburg crashed, airships may be making a comeback.
Harry takes off clothes, puts on flight suit
... on how the British prince, recently photographed partying in the buff, has returned to Afghanistan as a gunner on an Apache attack helicopter.
Mullet at center of barberous incident
... about the leader of the Amish clan members accused of cutting off their enemies' beards.
'Oh, the technology!'
... on how, 75 years after the Hindenburg crashed, airships may be making a comeback.
Harry takes off clothes, puts on flight suit
... on how the British prince, recently photographed partying in the buff, has returned to Afghanistan as a gunner on an Apache attack helicopter.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Headlines I might have written
... had I handled the news stories on these technological milestones last week:
Particle accelerator collides with reality
Shortly after the Large Hadron Collider starts up -- it stops when some of its magnets overheat.
On a wing and a prayer
Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy crosses the English Channel wearing a jet-powered wing.
Wok this way
Zhai Zhigang completes China's first spacewalk.
Particle accelerator collides with reality
Shortly after the Large Hadron Collider starts up -- it stops when some of its magnets overheat.
On a wing and a prayer
Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy crosses the English Channel wearing a jet-powered wing.
Wok this way
Zhai Zhigang completes China's first spacewalk.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
The Scratch An Itch syndrome
At first glance it's a little hard to understand: how could a presumably sophisticated political campaigner be so careless in an interview as to get his candidate into trouble?
I refer, of course, to the Etch A Sketch gaffe. It demonstrates the predicament a spokesman encounters trying to explain the soundbites that the candidate spits out like sunflower seeds. The interviewers are looking for mistatements, contradictions -- anything -- they can turn into headlines and leads.
Too often one feels like a punching bag. Eventually you want to punch back with your own soundbite.
It reminded me of an incident years ago when one of my PR colleagues at the telephone company was asked to react to the biting criticism of a legislator. "I didn't know he was running for office," the spokesman replied to the consternation of the company's executives, except for one who just shrugged.
"We pay him (the hapless spokesman) to take the reporters' abuse," the exec sighed. "We send him into the ring and tell him to take the fall. He gets tired of losing. Once in a while he just wants to win."
Same with the Etch A Sketch victim. Tired of having to continually obfuscate, equivocate and prevaricate, he was itching to show he could be as glib as anyone. Probably his biggest mistake was to use such a catchy, visual reference as Etch A Sketch.
For any reporter, making something out of that was child's play.
I refer, of course, to the Etch A Sketch gaffe. It demonstrates the predicament a spokesman encounters trying to explain the soundbites that the candidate spits out like sunflower seeds. The interviewers are looking for mistatements, contradictions -- anything -- they can turn into headlines and leads.
Too often one feels like a punching bag. Eventually you want to punch back with your own soundbite.
It reminded me of an incident years ago when one of my PR colleagues at the telephone company was asked to react to the biting criticism of a legislator. "I didn't know he was running for office," the spokesman replied to the consternation of the company's executives, except for one who just shrugged.
"We pay him (the hapless spokesman) to take the reporters' abuse," the exec sighed. "We send him into the ring and tell him to take the fall. He gets tired of losing. Once in a while he just wants to win."
Same with the Etch A Sketch victim. Tired of having to continually obfuscate, equivocate and prevaricate, he was itching to show he could be as glib as anyone. Probably his biggest mistake was to use such a catchy, visual reference as Etch A Sketch.
For any reporter, making something out of that was child's play.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Headlines I'd written if I'd had the chance`...
Hubble on the Bubble
On how the famous space telescope's future depends on the success of NASA astronauts' repairs.
Guards' use of stun guns on children
shocks Florida corrections official
On how some prison employees took part in "take a child to work" day - and went a little overboard.
A waist is a terrible thing to mine
On how dieters should be skeptical of weight loss plans that let you eat whatever you want, don’t include exercise, or focus on one kind of food.
On how the famous space telescope's future depends on the success of NASA astronauts' repairs.
Guards' use of stun guns on children
shocks Florida corrections official
On how some prison employees took part in "take a child to work" day - and went a little overboard.
A waist is a terrible thing to mine
On how dieters should be skeptical of weight loss plans that let you eat whatever you want, don’t include exercise, or focus on one kind of food.
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