Headlines and non-news

For as long as editors have had newspapers to fill, there have been news stories that aren't really news stories, and stories that get more attention than they deserve because of the editorial slant of the newspaper. Most people will have noticed a leading story in a newspaper about a nearby tragedy where one or two lives were lost which, when juxtaposed with a smaller article further back in the paper of hundreds of people being killed on the other side of the world, paints an ugly picture of the priorities of the editorial team and by extension, the readers. (The website mailwatch.co.uk collects and comments on some of the more notorious British tabloid front page headlines.)

The art of writing online headlines is slightly different to print, because you tend to be writing for a completely different audience. In print, you need to stand out more than the other newspapers in the newsagent and be the one that your target audience reaches for and buys- because that's where the money is. Online, you don't need to attract the attention of potential readers- you need to attract the attention of search engines, so that you're higher up the search list when someone's looking for a story about your subject.

While a newspaper headline will benefit from a snappy phrase, an amusing pun, or something that makes an otherwise dull story appear worth reading, these techniques can have a negative effect on a stories search results- the same stories online will benefit more from having the key words in the title, focussing on the search engines to bring in more readers (and therefore increase the value of their advertising)- ultimately, trying to predict what someone might put into a Google search for the story, rather than focussing on the readers they are ultimately aiming at. (This is one reason that I keep my own personal pages free from adverts, and focus on writing what I would want to read for myself.)

So sometimes the headline is the story- the actual article just fills in the dates and ages, and maybe some eyewitness reports to fill a column inch or two. But sometimes, a story is only a story because people are telling it, and when you take away the attention grabbing headline, there isn't actually a story behind it. Such as in this article from the BBC;

Kryptonite' discovered in mine

Kryptonite is no longer just the stuff of fiction feared by caped superheroes.
A new mineral matching its unique chemistry - as described in the film Superman Returns - has been identified in a mine in Serbia.

According to movie and comic-book storylines, kryptonite is supposed to sap Superman's powers whenever he is exposed to its large green crystals.

The real mineral is white and harmless, says Dr Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum.

"I'm afraid it's not green and it doesn't glow either

Ok- so this "kryptonite" isn't physically the same as the Kryptonite from the film and comics. It's very different. That's not the connection...

"Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns.

"The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite."

So that's both physically and chemically, this substance is not the same as the Kryptonite from the film and comics.

The mineral cannot be called kryptonite under international nomenclature rules because it has nothing to do with krypton - a real element in the Periodic Table that takes the form of a gas. [...] Instead, it will be formally named Jadarite when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.

So apart from it's physical appearance, it's chemical structure, and it's name, it's just like Kryptonite!

In a similar vein, I think the Superman comics are based on my own life. Sure, there are a few subtle differences- I was born in Bolton, England, rather than on the planet Krypton. My alter ego works in administration, rather than journalism. Superman's alter ego spells his name with a "K" (Clark Kent), while I spell my name without a K ("Scott Thompson".) I don't wear glasses while in "disguise". Oh, and I don't have the ability to fly, run faster than a speeding bullet, or to shoot laser beams from my eyes.

Apart from that, the coincidences are breathtaking.

(Apologies to the writers of Six Pairs of Pants, whose superhero joke I stole.)