Comments on: Those clickable CNN.com headlines

By: Gawker CNN Coverage

Gawker CNN Coverage — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 06:48:09 +0000

Gawker tracks these down nicely

By: Steve Safran

Steve Safran — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 03:01:23 +0000

Something else to keep in mind with headline writing (and I steal this lesson freely from Warley): you’re not writing for the people already at the site - you’re writing for search engines. People are seeking out keywords in stories, so you want as many of those keywords as possible in your headline. Your headlines should be literal, not clever or pun-filled.

I know, I’m the biggest offender.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 17:53:12 +0000

Whoever writes those really tries to suck you in. It’s very impressive. They love dropping the location, so that US readers will think a Far East story is local.

By: Ziv

Ziv — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:09:38 +0000

ok, now on CNN:

* Pope visits site believed to be Virgin Mary’s home
* Teen played Virgin Mary, now she’s pregnant
* Ornery sea lion bites 14 swimmers in two days
* U.S. to North Korean leader: No iPods for you!

Is this a news service?

What’s your take on the video headlines by the way? I really hate it that they appear in the same area as the story headlines. I always expect to read a story but instead get their robust video stream popup.. which I promptly close.

By: Emery Jeffreys

Emery Jeffreys — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:56:28 +0000

Editor’s owe it to readers to write accurate headlines that will compel Web viewers to read a story. Reporters owe it to readers to craft a story worth reading or seeing. It doesn’t matter what medium is used — Web, TV, newspapers.

It’s all about the end user.

At UPI we used to say write bright tonight. It hasn’t changed.

In the old days they used to pay headline writers by the headline. And they got paid at the end of the day so they would not jump ship to a rival.

By: Mike Escutia

Mike Escutia — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 05:47:54 +0000

Must’ve been a slow news day for them.