We’ve pointed out numerous times the Chronicle‘s lousy headline writing, and today we have a fine example:
Wow! HISD has absorbed 20,000 evacuee students? I didn’t know that!
Of course, HISD hasn’t taken in that many students (HISD has taken in about 6,000) but the headline makes it sound as though HISD has reached its limit of helping displaced Louisiana students. And in fact, the story focuses very little on HISD, contrary to the blaring headline.
Here’s a suggestion for the Chron‘s headline writer: if Houston-area school districts really are suffering from “compassion fatigue” (and if you read the story you will find that the story is more about the dynamics of Houston students interacting with evacuee students), then write it up correctly:
Houston-area schools suffering ‘compassion fatigue’
(a little editorial oversight wouldn’t hurt either.)
UPDATE AS I AM WRITING THE POST: Poof! The online story’s headline has changed:
Area schools suffering ‘compassion fatigue’
But the BIG headline in today’s paper still says, “HISD schools suffering ‘compassion fatigue’.”
UPDATE 2: Google News has the headline as “HISD schools suffering ‘compassion fatigue’.” It’s really hard to undo these things, isn’t it?
