Thursday, November 29, 2007

A Hit and Miss

I came across a couple of headlines recently in the L.A. Times that amused me, one in a good way and the other in a bad way.

In the Times Business section on Nov. 15 was this head:

Uncertainly pulls down markets

Major indexes fall after Macy's lowers a sales forecast and retail spending shows only a slight rise in October.

I was puzzled when I read this. At first I thought "Uncertainly" was the name of some company. After I read the lead, however, I could see that what the headline should have said was: Uncertainty pulls down markets.


The California front on Nov. 13 had a story about the iconic LAX restaurant, Encounter, reopening after repairs and renovations. The main head said:

George Jetson,

party of 4, your

table is ready

Space Age dining returns to LAX as iconic eatery is patched up. One delighted customer: a 5-year-old named Jet.

I really loved these headlines. They're fun, and along with the four photos used (2 on the cover, 2 inside), they draw the reader in. In fact, the lead of the story was nothing special; it wasn't fun and playful like the headline. But at least the headline drew me in. I would love to see us loosen up and do more of these in the news pages, when appropriate to the story, of course. Now, you can beam me back up to my copy desk.