Online can't replace face-to-face shopping
Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009
Monday was touted across the country as “Cyber-Monday,” the day on which many people took to the Internet to do holiday shopping online.
While none of us argue with the convenience of shopping that way, those concerned about the local economy would like to encourage you to shop locally.
Online shopping might work for hard-to-find items or even basics that are readily available, but there’s nothing like the face-to-face shopping relationship you’re going to get with local merchants.
It is the local sales tax and property tax dollars that help finance local government services and programs.
It is advertising dollars that also help support the local media, such as this newspaper. That doesn’t mean this suggestion is totally self-serving.
It simply should serve to remind you of the importance of local businesses to the local economy.
* * *
There are few things that elicit a more painful growl from the editors’ offices than a bad headline.
It seems we’ve had more than our share of misspelled words in headlines lately.
Headlines in general perform an important role in newspapers and online publishing.
It is the role of the headline to attract a reader’s attention and make him or her want to read a story.
Sometimes the headline is very direct; at other times it might “tease” a reader into delving into the story.
A headline can be a wonderful thing. To paraphrase the poet John Keats, “A perfect headline is a joy forever.”
In copy editing, a perfect headline contains the right balance of information, nuance, attention-getting, and, when appropriate, humor.
We have some staff members who pretty regularly score with one of those perfect headlines. In fact, at The Enterprise, we have a staff member who has won all kinds of headline awards.
In headline writing, it is acceptable to use a play on words, and it sometimes makes for great headlines. For example, “Wither report” on a story about the area experiencing a rare drought and “Throws of agony” on a piece about a baseball pitcher with arm problems.
When such headlines work, they are great. When they don’t, they are terrible. It is a very delicate balance.
In the last week we’ve also had several good ones — “Liquid assets” about the Sabine Neches waterway and “Dose of reality” about the arrival of the H1N1 flu vaccinations at the health department.
Historically, newspaper headlines were to contain a subject and an active verb, no “to be” verbs and no lines ending in prepositions.
Those rules eased a bit in the past few decades, but there still are limitations as to the content of headlines.
Computers made headline writing easier, but again, that doesn’t mean our copy editors can fit three four-syllable words into one one-column headline. Headline writing is still an imperfect art.
I’ve frequently wanted to write an essay on the evolution of the headline. An editor starts out with the perfect headline, but it doesn’t fit the space. So he or she changes a word, then another. In the end, ideally, we have a different, but still perfect headline. In reality, we have a thought that has been greatly modified from its original form.
Sometimes that explains why we, or our readers, get confused by a headline that started out making sense and ended up as a bad headline.
* * *
Readers might have noticed a National Federation of the Blind advertisement in The Enterprise last week.
The ad called attention to the fact that The Enterprise is one of 14 local newspapers in Texas that allows the organization use of its content in providing newspapers to the blind and others who cannot read because of visual or physical disabilities.
The service makes our newspaper available via telephone line, or in Braille by way of the Internet. Grants and donations provide funding for the service. Participation in the free program requires proof of eligibility.
Those interested in obtaining the service can contact the National Federation of the Blind newsline coordinator, Stephen Tompkins,toll-free at 1 (866) 636-3289 or can sign up for the service at nfbnewsline.org.
Monday was touted across the country as “Cyber-Monday,” the day on which many people took to the Internet to do holiday shopping online.
While none of us argue with the convenience of shopping that way, those concerned about the local economy would like to encourage you to shop locally.
Online shopping might work for hard-to-find items or even basics that are readily available, but there’s nothing like the face-to-face shopping relationship you’re going to get with local merchants.
It is the local sales tax and property tax dollars that help finance local government services and programs.
It is advertising dollars that also help support the local media, such as this newspaper. That doesn’t mean this suggestion is totally self-serving.
It simply should serve to remind you of the importance of local businesses to the local economy.
* * *
There are few things that elicit a more painful growl from the editors’ offices than a bad headline.
It seems we’ve had more than our share of misspelled words in headlines lately.
Headlines in general perform an important role in newspapers and online publishing.
It is the role of the headline to attract a reader’s attention and make him or her want to read a story.
Sometimes the headline is very direct; at other times it might “tease” a reader into delving into the story.
A headline can be a wonderful thing. To paraphrase the poet John Keats, “A perfect headline is a joy forever.”
In copy editing, a perfect headline contains the right balance of information, nuance, attention-getting, and, when appropriate, humor.
We have some staff members who pretty regularly score with one of those perfect headlines. In fact, at The Enterprise, we have a staff member who has won all kinds of headline awards.
In headline writing, it is acceptable to use a play on words, and it sometimes makes for great headlines. For example, “Wither report” on a story about the area experiencing a rare drought and “Throws of agony” on a piece about a baseball pitcher with arm problems.
When such headlines work, they are great. When they don’t, they are terrible. It is a very delicate balance.
In the last week we’ve also had several good ones — “Liquid assets” about the Sabine Neches waterway and “Dose of reality” about the arrival of the H1N1 flu vaccinations at the health department.
Historically, newspaper headlines were to contain a subject and an active verb, no “to be” verbs and no lines ending in prepositions.
Those rules eased a bit in the past few decades, but there still are limitations as to the content of headlines.
Computers made headline writing easier, but again, that doesn’t mean our copy editors can fit three four-syllable words into one one-column headline. Headline writing is still an imperfect art.
I’ve frequently wanted to write an essay on the evolution of the headline. An editor starts out with the perfect headline, but it doesn’t fit the space. So he or she changes a word, then another. In the end, ideally, we have a different, but still perfect headline. In reality, we have a thought that has been greatly modified from its original form.
Sometimes that explains why we, or our readers, get confused by a headline that started out making sense and ended up as a bad headline.
* * *
Readers might have noticed a National Federation of the Blind advertisement in The Enterprise last week.
The ad called attention to the fact that The Enterprise is one of 14 local newspapers in Texas that allows the organization use of its content in providing newspapers to the blind and others who cannot read because of visual or physical disabilities.
The service makes our newspaper available via telephone line, or in Braille by way of the Internet. Grants and donations provide funding for the service. Participation in the free program requires proof of eligibility.
Those interested in obtaining the service can contact the National Federation of the Blind newsline coordinator, Stephen Tompkins,toll-free at 1 (866) 636-3289 or can sign up for the service at nfbnewsline.org.
posted by Sheila Friedeck at 2:20 PM
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