Ecstatic? “Productive” in quotes? Oh, those wacky Star Headline Writers

by David Safier

Today I'm not going to call the Star's Headline Writing Team creative. Their heads for two stories fit more into the "wacky" category.

Take the story of Obama signing the DADT repeal. The Star's headline is:

Ecstatic Obama signs repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell'

Ecstatic? That word isn't used in the article. Nothing in the article implies anything approaching ecstasy on the President's part. Eleven paragraphs down it says he was "beaming" when he signed the bill, but most of the article describes his sober assessment of the importance of the legislation.

Most papers had a simpler head for the same AP story:

Obama signs 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal

Kinda boring I admit, but it does have a certain quality of . . . what's the word I'm looking for? . . . oh yeah, accuracy.

(BTW, when I googled "Don't ask, don't tell" + ecstatic, I came up with comments from some ardent supporters of the repeal. Did the Wacky Star Headline Writers giggle and say, "Let's see if we can make Obama sound gay"? It sounds just childish enough to be possible.)

Then there's this Star headline:

Obama enjoys wins in 'productive' lame-duck session

Productive in quotes? No one can dispute the session was productive, only whether you like what was produced. But the word "productive" was pulled from something Obama said, so I suppose the headline writing boys and girls couldn't make themselves admit he might have said something that's objectively true.

By far the most common headline for the McClatchy article was:

Obama's lame-duck lesson: 'We are not doomed to endless gridlock'

McClatchy and most everyone else chose to spotlight Obama's statement about how bipartisanship can end gridlock. The Star? "Oh, yeah, Barack Hussein. You can call it 'productive' if you want. We're not going to give you the satisfaction of agreeing with you."

Oh, those wacky Star Headline Writers!

CONTEST REMINDER: BfA's first annual "Star's Worst Headlines of the Year" will begin Monday, December 27. You'll get to choose from the six worst headlines I've culled from a banner year of humdingers. I'm so excited, I'm going to try and have one of those actual survey boxes where you put in your choice, then view the results. Just like a real blog! And like the CNN website!