The little engine that could - chug chug

I am almost there. The final section for this weeks assignment was to find five great web headlines , five not so great ones and post my comments here. A lot of them are from today but one or two are from earlier this week.

Great:
*1. "No magic wand - Shaw".
http://jamaicagleaner.com/gleaner/20080323/lead/lead5.html

It was posted today March 23.2008 on The Gleaner Company's website. Now the Gleaner is a newspaper which posts some of its printed news articles online for the tech savvy among us. So the headlines is not only on the Internet but also in print. I like it because it is simple and to the point. It is budget time in the Jamaican parliament and what this headlines says in a four words is that Finance Minister Audley Shaw warning against miracles. We changed governments for the first time in 18 years so it is a new government, a new Minister of Finance and even more dire economic straights. Everyone is looking for a pay increase and Shaw is saying "I have no magic wand so do not get your hopes up."

*2 “Woman stuck on toilet for two years, police say.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/12/woman.stuck.on.toilet.ap/index.html
I read this one on CNN website earlier this week. I went and looked for it so I could show it here. It was the headline that caught me. I thought it was bizarre and nasty and wanted to know why – so I read the story. Also, by the “police say” the writer also adds credibility to the story because I would have skipped past it otherwise.

*3. “Caribbean wary of US credit crunch”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2008/03/080320_creditcrunchcaribbean.shtml
I read this on BBC Caribbean’s website. The state of the US economy and its repercussions for the Caribbean is being watched very carefully by economists and ordinary citizens as well. Some of our country’s debts are serviced in US currency, we sometimes do business transactions in US currency and we travel to the US for business and for pleasure (to name a few reasons for disquiet). This headline brings the concern of the region to the fore in six words. I think it is a good headline.

*4 “Greeks test Beijing torch lighting, fear Tibet protests”
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL23968420080323?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
I do not know what the average headline should be but I think this one may be pushing it. It is still good though because shows the relationship between the Beijing Olympics and the recent uprisings in Tibet. It could stopped at lighting but the news value increases when the readers becomes aware of the impact the protest are having and may have as the Peoples Republic of China prepares for the Olympics in August.

*5 JAMAICA-HEALTH-Government says upcoming budget will honour election promises
from CMC News Headlines
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The six-month old Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government says it is not worried about being able to keep its election promises, just days before tabling it first budget.

I have no URL for this site because one has to pay to view more than the above. The headline “Government says upcoming budget will honour election promises” may be a little long but it is topical and to the point. I find that, perhaps because they only have a few lines to entice the reader to buy the article from them, the CMC news headlines tend to be very well written. The lead also follows very well of the headline giving context and starting the story. I like it.