Steve Hayward has some interesting observations on NYT headline writers on the Ashbrook Center blog No Left Turns here.
Steve offered his views on the Reagan presidency at a recent Shaftesbury luncheon here and Carolina Journal’s Rick Henderson offered his views on the decline of the print press here.
Connoisseurs of the Obvious Department
In an afterword to an old edition of Fahrenheit 451,
Ray Bradbury wrote of things that were so obviously banal it “wouldn’t
make a sub-moron’s mouth twitch.” The headline writers at New York Times are doing their best this week to live up to Bradbury’s sneer.
First on Wednesday, the Times informed us: “Biggest Obstacle to Global Climate Deal May Be How to Pay For It.”
No? You don’t say? What next: “Biggest Obstacle to Human Flight May
Be Gravity.” “Biggest Obstacle to Redskins’ Super Bowl Title May Be
Other Teams.”
Then today (Saturday), the Times delivers another stop-the-presses headline: “$1.4 Trillion Deficit Complicates Stimulus Plans.”
Wow. I’m sure this will get a Pultizer Prize. (Why not: they give
away Nobel Peace Prizes these days just for general awesomeness.)
With this in mind, don’t miss the Daily Show’s takedown of the antediluvian character of the Times (“Like
a walking Colonial Williamsburg. . . Charming, but not profitable. . .
Why is aged news better than today’s news?. . . To editor Bill
Keller: “What’s black and white and red all over?” Keller: “A
newspaper.” DS reporter: “No. Your balance sheet.”)
I prefer the headlines of the New York Post, which contain more news value, such as their classic: “Headless Body in Topless Bar.” Now that’s news you can use!
