I worked as a proofreader for the Orlando Morning Sentinel when it
was owned and run by Martin Anderson, who was a holy terror when it
came to grammar, punctuation, and ambiguity.  If I found an error 
any place, it was more likely in Bill Buckley's column than on the 
front or the editorial page.  

Today, most journalists write the headlines for their articles; editing
seems limited to cutting off the end of the article to fit the space
available.  Proofreaders are extinct on all such papers.
For further info on problem headlines see
http://web.ku.edu/~edit/headproblem.html 

I have a problem with the ScienceDaily headline: I am missing the ambiguity!

Scott Catledge
------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:40:04 -0500
From:    DD Farms <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Headlines

At 02:55 PM 9/15/2009, Spruiell, William C wrote:
>I'm not sure every headline is assumed to be present tense. . . .

DD: I worked in the press both as editor and as "BOY! Remember that 
Headlines are written by word smiths. They enjoy working the 
ambiguity and pun routes. The real object of the Headline is to 
entice the reader to read further into the article.

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------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:29:08 -0400
From:    "Spruiell, William C" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Headlines

And just out from ScienceDaily:

Jupiter Captured Comet For 12 Years In Mid-20th Century

The article itself is at the address below, and comes complete with
intimidatingly-labeled orbital diagram:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090914111825.htm

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