Western Railroad Discussion > Bad headline

https://signalscv.com/2019/01/mile-long-freight-train-catches-fire-shuts-down-santa-clarita-railroad-track/?fbclid=IwAR0Xcesz1Ve3hUFqo4IWC2WR2Mlfl8ORCCm1UmXIBRe4CTHQe6CFk2OsAJI

You read the headline you think a mile long train is on fire instead of an electrical fire in an engine (GE of course).

Good lord, quit nitpicking.

When your neighbor’s house is on fire do you say the their living room is burning?

Or do you say the house next door is on fire?

What the people in Santa Clarita likely care about is that a train is on fire, and the train’s length might impact crossings in town.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/19 18:27 by walstib.

Perfectly good headline and story - seems to me.

I'm not necessarily thinking that the OP was nitpicking.  The headline does provoke a mental image of an object ablaze that could be of an extensive length.  Remember, the role of any media outlet today is to be the first with the worst and the facts be damned.......those are an after thought only if the outlet is questioned about it after the report has been published.  Even then, some outlets will only begrudgingly admit that they were possibly in error.

Welcome to the new normal in 'news' presentations..........................

Of course he was nitpicking.

It’s a headline, it’s not designed to tell the entire story.

The story was clear that it was a locomotive on fire.

Posted from iPhone

Seems like the norm for the media with somewhat minor incidents like this is to make the headline as dramatic as possible.  This sentence from the article also surprised me. 
"Thursday’s Metrolink passengers of trains 209 and 216 were also offered a reimbursement of up to $50, for use of alternative transit, which included taxis, Uber and Lyft."

If firefighter was responsible for all the white stuff on the locomotive as shown in the first photo, does that make him a "foamer?"
 

Its not nit picking its typical news reporting click bait or just poor quality of work on the reporters part. One should not have to read a story with headlines like that only to find out it was just a loco on fire. Seems news outlets cant get much right with the quality of reporters they hire.

Newspaper reporters only occasionally write their own headlines. That click bait line is done by experts.

Like TV news teasing a story about a brutal crime. And finding out it happened 8,000 miles away...

Posted from Android

It is interesting that nowhere in the story does it mention the length of the train.

Kim Heusel

Might I suggest that those of you who have an issue with the story or headline —both of which are accurate — take it up with the news outlet responsible for publishing the story, instead of whinig here about your perception of journalism today. 

I koow you're all armchair experts and all, but your comments are best directed to the publisher.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Like TV news teasing a story about a brutal crime.
> And finding out it happened 8,000 miles away...
>
> Posted from Android

How is a crime less horrible if it happened 8,000 miles away from the reader?

Compared to some of the heds (and spelling and grammer and...) I see on this board that one was fine!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

RuleG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > Like TV news teasing a story about a brutal
> crime.
> > And finding out it happened 8,000 miles away...
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
> How is a crime less horrible if it happened 8,000
> miles away from the reader?


I wouldn't say it's less horrible but definitely less relevant...

I believe it was the same report(er) that kept saying the lead "car" was on fire.    Even as the train pulled away in a later report, he was still calling the dead unit a "car."    I had to chuckle at the innocence.    The bulk of reporters talking about train incidences normally don't know the lingo.   Forgiven.
Overall, I was disappointed no one mistakenly called the line Southern Pacific.   <g>

No biggie.  It all depends on how it's observed.  I find the local news anchors very amusing at times with some of the stuff they're fed.  The graphics team is even better, with various misspellings and other errors.

 

---

Does it really say "Burning America" behind that foam on the loco?
Go : )

Can I say "All the GE toasters are not toasted yet?"
...................Swede................Albony,OR................



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/19 20:16 by GN_X838.