Re: Trevor Cook: The dull headline is not so dumb after all (SEO)

Allan Jenkins — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:18:26 -0000

When a celebrity dies or a president is shot, good journalism is not "Dead in Bed" or "Dead in the back of his limo".

It is "Heath Ledger Dies" or "JFK Shot"

Headline #1 is by far the better headline -- not for the SEO gravy, but because it tells the story in summary form. A story that is fleshed out in the lede, and more so in the rest of the story.

I don't care a fig for Heath Ledger, but some people do, and the editors of SMH wrote the story for them. Actually, the editors of SMH also wrote the story for those of us who don't care -- I would have seen the headline and moved on, grateful that my time had not been wasted.

If you take Trevor's advice, the Heath Ledger story should have read:

Dead in Bed

It's not like getting laid by Rodeo Boy. In your tent. While the sheep murmur and the wolves sing songs of the untamed West.

Yes, it was the bed of one of the Olsen sisters. Not the tent of Rodeo Boy. But Ang Lee was not there to weave the tale, And the Olsen hottie wasn't there to ... whatever she does.

It was death. Death discovered by the maid.

No sheep. No Olsen sister. Not even newsworthy.

(story continued on 7B)

What a waste of time that would have been.

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Re: Trevor Cook: The dull headline is not so dumb after all (SEO)