Thursday, March 08, 2007

Anyone Feel Like Voting in a Headline Contest?

The winner gets a check+ in the old gradebook. That's a prize worth having.

Here's the link.

The new heds are substitutes for a headline I wrote that was judged by the assembled youth as inaccurate, and quite rightly. Good job, youth. It was also judged as somewhat callous, at least in the sense of reaching for the sensational.

I've had a long and useful exchange of emails with a valued colleague about what degree of "coldness" -- the appearance of indifference -- is inappropriate for a journalism teacher as he/she (in this case he, as in me) uses the sudden and horrible death of someone in one's own community as a learning moment. It's a good question, and it caught me by surprise to even be considered cold-hearted, since I think of myself as warm and crumbly with just barely enough cynicism to spice the Jello.

That said, I think one of the heds suggested by the students is the most utter bullshit. Can you guess which one?

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