Good, Bad, and Ugly

Not for home use…

TearLab gets FDA nod for home use of dry eye test

Please issue a correction. The test was CLIA-waived for professional office use, not home.

S.K.

We issued a correction to clarify that the test was approved for wider professional use, not home use: GBU Editor

Anti-government protesters react as they celebrate the signing by Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh of a deal to step down in Sanaa November 23, 2011. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

The wrong school

Penn’s new athletic head has no plans to cancel football

STATE COLLEGE, Pa (Reuters) – Penn State’s new acting athletic director said on Friday there are no plans to cancel the rest of the Nittany Lions’ football season or to remove Joe Paterno’s statue from outside Beaver Stadium.

Your headline: “Penn’s new athletic head has no plans to cancel football” is absolutely incorrect.

Penn is not Penn State. Penn is The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, and is not connected in any way to the child abuse scandal at Penn State University. You should print a retraction and an apology. And perhaps educate your headline writers.

A Penn alumnus

We heard about this headline from several unhappy readers: GBU Editor

A board covers a broken window at Jerry Sandusky’s home in State College, Pennsylvania November 19, 2011. The window was broken by unknown people on November 18. Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator for the Penn State football team, has been arraigned for 40 counts of child sexual abuse. REUTERS/Pat Little

Inaccurate headline?

I take exception to the title of your article on Facebook and brain size.

This is absolutely what is wrong with journalism today. More Facebook friends is absolutely NOT linked to the size of the brain but to certain regions within the brain, as correctly pointed out on his article.

But the headline link you have on the homepage is misleading and to a degree sensationalized. I expect better from Reuters.

J.S.

It’s a fair point. The story’s actual headline was “More Facebook friends linked to bigger brain areas,” but the home page version was shortened.

We have fixed it: GBU Editor

Offensive headlne?

I am writing with reference to your article, ‘Jacko’s doc represents rise in criminal prosecutions.’ I was extremely shocked a media establishment such as yours which is respected for its integrity would use such a term.

If you are unaware, ‘Jacko’ is not a term of endearement for Michael Jackson but is rooted in racism and negativity.

I am asking you to correct this disrespectful slur.

Grace

Please remove the offensive moniker immediately.

I accidentally came to your site from google, thinking it was a news site, and was disgusted and repulsed by the nickname I saw in the headline. How dare you belittle a deceased person, who was a legendary artist and the greatest humanitarian, like that? Shame on you!

Misleading headline?

Family sues police over California Taser death

LOS ANGELES, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The parents of a Southern California man who accuse police of killing their son with a Taser after he honked at a patrol car have sued the sheriff’s department and county.

This headline is misleading. A cause of death hasn’t been determined and to simply infer that the use of one police tool is to blame for this man’s death is irresponsible as there are no facts to support that causal relationship.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, hundreds of people unfortunately die during or following arrests each year with only a small fraction of these events involving the use of a TASER® device and most of these cases involved some other cause of death.

Please immediately correct the headline to reflect that the cause of death is as yet unknown.

Stacey Todd TASER International

We have amended the headline to call it a Taser-related death: GBU Editor

Cramping our style?

Nadal collapses after win at scorching U.S. Open

Please!!! Nadal did not collapse… he cramped.

Try to be responsible with headlines. Drop the drama. This only reinforces media stereotypes.

You can do better… don’t be pathetic. This headline is pathetic.

J.C.S.

“…covered his face with his hands and slumped to the floor… Sorry, but that sounds pretty much like a collapse to me.

Our description of the event was similar to those of other news organizations:

Sloppy…

Berlin mayor criticises nostalgia for Berlin Wall

Wowereit said the Wall, toppled in 1989, should serve as a reminder of freedom and democracy around the world. Church bells peeled while trains and traffic came to a standstill at noon across Berlin for a moment of silence for the victims.

In the story on Berlin’s mayor commenting on nostalgia for the Berlin Wall, it is stated that “…bells peeled…” Bells PEAL, not PEEL!

Gary

Fears of more violence after worst London riots for years

The disturbance was finally brought under control on Sunday after hours of sporadic clashes. Buildings were still shouldering, bricks littered the roads and burglar alarms continued to ring out.

What a difference an A makes

Obama says U.S. is still a AAA country

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Monday blamed a downgrade in the United States’ credit rating on political gridlock in Washington and said he would offer some recommendations on how to reduce federal deficits.

TI’m teaching English in Thailand… This header should say: Obama says U.S. is still an AAA country.

Tony

Our style is to use a instead of an, on the grounds that most people read it as “triple A” rather than saying three separate letter As.

You do have a valid argument, of course, and S&P’s own Website goes the other way, saying, “A bank with an ‘AAA’ survivability assessment…” GBU Editor

The Standard and Poor’s building is seen in New York, August 8, 2011. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

To air is human?

Polanski, Madonna films to air at Venice festival

“To air” means to be broadcast over the airwaves, on television or radio.

These films will screen, play, premiere, and/or be shown at the festival. It’s an easy mistake to make if you don’t know the euphemism, but I wouldn’t want it to catch on.

Geoff

In this day of multiple delivery technologies it may be a bit late to restrict the word only to television airwaves. Dictionary.com does offer the definition “to be broadcast or televised.”

Having said that, it is probably a bit of a stretch to use it in connection with movies being shown: GBU Editor

Singer Madonna gestures during the taping of “Oprah’s Surprise Spectacular” in Chicago May 17, 2011. REUTERS/John Gress

Taking a swipe at our headline

Driver swipes L.A. police cruisers, injures 4 officers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Four Los Angeles police officers were injured on Saturday, one of them critically, when a 64 year-old woman who may have been asleep at the wheel struck their cruisers, police said.

Your headline is misleading. It would lead one to believe the driver stole the police cars, rather than hit them in an accident.

May I respectfully suggest that it be rewritten?

Steve L.

My dictionary’s first definition of the verb swipe is to strike or move with a sweeping motion, which is what the story was about.

If he had actually stolen the cars, as you presumed, I suspect we would have used “steals” rather than “swipes” in the headline: GBU Editor