One of the most important things in my PR internship I learned was the importance of a catchy, yet straightforward headline. Writing news advisories and press releases was one of my key responsibilities and I learned through trial and error how to craft the ideal press release. This is the first thing and sometimes last thing a reporter will see, and since they read hundreds a day – you’ve got to get it right.
Clive Thompson’s blog post, “How Google News is changing the way newspaper headlines are written,” addresses the change journalists and bloggers are facing due to search engines. The end is nearing for clever titles that are indirectly unrelated to the topic of the post. In my mind, it’s about time! I hate googling something specific and picking up tons of random topics. Also, RSS feeds give people headlines on their favorites news websites, and it is important for them to receive straightforward titles to know which stories will interest them.
Journalists … would be wise to do a little keyword research to determine the two or three most-searched words that relate to their subject — and then include them in the first few sentences. “That’s not something they teach in journalism schools,” said Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineWatch, an online newsletter. “But in the future, they should.”
One of the key theme’s in my blog is “how advancing technology shapes society,” and this here is yet more evidence supporting this claim. Computers are becoming a key factor in how many of us do our jobs and will continue to do so. I guess this is a sign that technology is a promising career which offers a lot of societal control.
How will straightforward headlines dictate what people chose to read?
What do straight-to-the-point news articles affect the quality of news?
