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Tuesday, August 24, 2004
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AS SOME GLACIERS SHRINK, OTHERS ENDURE
As you may recall (UD, 4/9/04), UD likes to monitor writing of all kinds - scholarly, journalistic, etc. She has taken for this entry's title a headline from today's CNN that she thinks in need of an editor. "It's like announcing," UD's husband remarked when she asked him what he thought of the headline, "that SOME PEOPLE DIE, OTHERS LIVE." If someone suddenly told you that all this time, all around you, while you lived your little life, some glaciers were shrinking while others endured, would you perk up and say Newsworthy...? What are the chances you'll read the article that accompanies this headline? A headline that competes for your attention with thousands of other headlines you'll see today, on television, online, in the newspaper, on billboards... How to rewrite? Well, if you really just want to get the article read, no holds barred, you scare people: GLOBAL GLACIERS A DRIPPING TIME BOMB. Something like that. (Note also UD's elegant alliteration.) But if you're a serious journalist with an actually interesting or disturbing trend to report, then -- SCIENTISTS PONDER PUZZLING LIFE AND DEATH OF GLACIERS. Something like that. |