headline humor source

[Grant Barrett]

On 7/29/02 16:04, "Gerald Cohen" <gcohen at UMR.EDU> wrote:

> Here's another example. There's a Misouri town named Clever, and in
> the 1980s the police chief there did something that got him arrested.
> My local newspaper (Rolla Daily News) carried the story with the
> headline: "Clever Police Chief Arrested."
>   I'm sure there was no humor intended, but I couldn't help
> thinking: If he was so clever, what was he doing getting arrested?

How sure are you there was no humor intended? Journalists go to great
lengths to work these sorts of things into headlines. Every once in a while
the Bong Bull newsletter ( http://gondwanaland.com/bong/ ) features them,
with reporters explaining whether it was intended or not (usually it was,
with the half-hope that an editor would catch it before publication). I
believe the Letters page at Romenesko's MediaNews  (
http://www.poynter.org/medianews/ ) had a similar thread.