Headline in the State

[Moderator1]

seeing all kinds of hubbub on Twitter about this, including this from South Carolina





A story:

South Carolina newspaper facing massive backlash after 'Hilinski's Hope' headline



Another tweet

 

[Cosmo]

Really feel bad for Andrew, who had nothing to do with this but basically has to wear it. Another example of the dangers of farming duties out to centralized design/editing hubs.

 

[playthrough]

I confess I didn't know what "Hilinski's Hope" was (though I know about his brother's suicide), but that's just a garbage headline any way you look at it.

 

[Starman]

Anything to get off a snarky line.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

GateHouse centralized pagination would never allow that to happen because generic hed.

 

[FileNotFound]

I didn’t know about the Hilinski’s Hope organization either, so I can totally see how this might happen if you’re just somebody in Charlotte trying to write a hed off the lede. But: Somebody in Columbia should have caught this before it hit the press. I understand the “throw it over the wall” production process, but there’s gotta be a night editor signing off on pages before they’re output.

 

[HanSenSE]

Never would have guessed what happened without the link from Moddy. And still I say WTF?

 

[TigerVols]

The picture is crap too.

Newspapers need to just go ahead and die already if this is the best they can do.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

One of the tweets from the State spelled out how the writer or editor fills in a headline, then it gets tweaked at the hub to fit for print.

I'd be interested in what that suggested hed was and how far the hib strayed away from it to where it ended up.

 

[Tarheel316]

I didn’t know about the Hilinski’s Hope organization either, so I can totally see how this might happen if you’re just somebody in Charlotte trying to write a hed off the lede. But: Somebody in Columbia should have caught this before it hit the press. I understand the “throw it over the wall” production process, but there’s gotta be a night editor signing off on pages before they’re output.

The headline does indeed reflect the lede, which makes me think the lede should have been written differently. He really shouldn’t have used the word hope in the lede with Hilinski. Seems like that should have been caught by whoever edited the story. Just an awful, insensitive headline.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

I knew nothing about this until I read this thread. But obviously a huge blunder in that market.

It’s almost like experience, local knowledge and institutional knowledge matter a lot.

 

[BTExpress]

I'd be interested in what that suggested hed was and how far the hub strayed away from it to where it ended up.

South Carolina stumbles to 1-3 start with road loss to Missouri

And the thing is, had this been a "normal" headline treatment (instead of the monster 3-4 word centerpiece treatment), that headline likely would have stayed pretty much intact for print. Or maybe "USC falls to 1-3 with loss at Missouri."

Seems like that should have been caught by whoever edited the story. Just an awful, insensitive headline.

Can't be. The only true "edit" these stories get is with the online head attached. After that they are sent for "print finishing," which involves just making everything fit in the print space allotted. "Finishers" are not supposed to read the story as an editor. In fact, they are not supposed to spend more than 8 minutes on any story.

The great majority of the time, simple tweaking of online heads is done. Only in the case of tough, one-column heads or the 3-4 word centerpiece heads is a complete rewrite usually done. On rare occasions, print heads are suggested. Kansas City typically throws out an idea for its Chiefs centerpiece heads, and the designer makes it work.

Finally, the newspaper's apology was inaccurate as well. SOME hub members work in Charlotte. But only about 18 out of about 80-90. That headline could have been written by someone in Sacramento, Fort Worth, Bradenton, Biloxi or more than a dozen other places.

 

[Alma]

It’s a big error. I read and thought “yeah, doing a turn on the movie Hope Floats was a really, really bad idea.” Can’t do it.

South Carolina attempting to squeeze money out of a newspaper for an error isn’t surprising. That sounds like Will Muschamp.

Because the media is what it is today, you’ll see national media (like McMurphy) puff their chests out in judgment. I imagine local media will do its usual whisper-whisper that came along when recruiting sites started staffing press conferences with glorified PR agents.

 

[Cosmo]

One of the tweets from the State spelled out how the writer or editor fills in a headline, then it gets tweaked at the hub to fit for print.

I'd be interested in what that suggested hed was and how far the hib strayed away from it to where it ended up.

Andrew tweeted that the first time he saw the headline was the next morning when he looked at the print edition. I don't believe the writer is responsible for a suggested hed for print, just the online hed.

 

[BTExpress]

I'm 99.999999999% sure there was no "suggested head" for print. There rarely is.

On the rare occasions in which I see one, I'll slap it on the story before the finisher even gets to it.

 

[playthrough]

Because the media is what it is today, you’ll see national media (like McMurphy) puff their chests out in judgment.

Anything to further your brand and pick up a few more followers.

 

[Tarheel316]

South Carolina stumbles to 1-3 start with road loss to Missouri

And the thing is, had this been a "normal" headline treatment (instead of the monster 3-4 word centerpiece treatment), that headline likely would have stayed pretty much intact for print. Or maybe "USC falls to 1-3 with loss at Missouri."



Can't be. The only true "edit" these stories get is with the online head attached. After that they are sent for "print finishing," which involves just making everything fit in the print space allotted. "Finishers" are not supposed to read the story as an editor. In fact, they are not supposed to spend more than 8 minutes on any story.

The great majority of the time, simple tweaking of online heads is done. Only in the case of tough, one-column heads or the 3-4 word centerpiece heads is a complete rewrite usually done. On rare occasions, print heads are suggested. Kansas City typically throws out an idea for its Chiefs centerpiece heads, and the designer makes it work.

Finally, the newspaper's apology was inaccurate as well. SOME hub members work in Charlotte. But only about 18 out of about 80-90. That headline could have been written by someone in Sacramento, Fort Worth, Bradenton, Biloxi or more than a dozen other places.

Didn't realize that about the hub and it makes me wonder why The State would misrepresent that.

 

[BTExpress]

One of the tweets from the State spelled out how the writer or editor fills in a headline, then it gets tweaked at the hub to fit for print.

I'd be interested in what that suggested hed was and how far the hib strayed away from it to where it ended up.

One point of clarification: There was no "suggested" head. There was simply an "online head" that most of the time needs to be severely shortened (or completely reworked) for print.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Thank you. I read the "online hed" as "suggested print hed," which was incorrect. My bad.

 

[Ben.Breiner]

Hi, y'all. I work at The State and am somewhat in the middle of this. If you'd like followup/more explanation, shoot me a PM.