You may not know this about me, but I have had a passionate love affair with hilarious and poorly written headlines. At at the risk of making light of a serious situation, I will submit the following to this category:

Boy spotted in Walmart is not Kyron Horman

A boy spotted in a Walmart in Yreka, Calif. is not 7-year-old Kyron Horman.

That headline sounds like something from the Onion.

8 replies on “Journalism Lessons: Make Your Headlines Specific”

  1. This makes perfect sense if you had heard the reports that he was spotted there and were waiting for an update. Don’t make fun of this, it’s very sad. Go tease Cornelia Signeur.

  2. I love local news, too! I like local newscasters the most, but print stuff is good, too.

    This headline here isn’t very funny, but your site has some good ones.

  3. Hey guys, the joke is that Wal-Mart contains LOTS of boys, and pretty much all of them aren’t Kyron Horman. So telling us that a boy spotted in Wal-Mart isn’t Kyron isn’t really telling us anything. The story obviously explains why this is news. But, taken by itself, the headline is fairly meaningless. Get it?!

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