Thursday, November 15, 2007

Head Shop

The headline screams This woman is a developer's worst nightmare. No one in the story is quoted saying this; no evidence in the story is presented that comes close to supporting this editorial position. The story is about a lawyer, Lesley Blackner, who wants the law changed so local voters would have to approve or deny changes to local comprehensive land plans. The AP wire story contains an unattributed paragraph that a kid on the copy desk thinks justifies the headline: Developers, builders and others in the business community say it would delay or halt development and ruin the state's economy.

The second problem is the Charlotte Sun publisher has promised readers on several occasions his newspaper would not publish stories based on anonymous sources. The copy desk didn't get the memo.

Strong cylcone landfalling in Bangladesh. The worst part, is this is a Web site headline; there's no pressure to be artifically sort. There's plenty of room to write "making landfall" and not embarrass everyone on the copy desk.


More from the Head Shop...





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