Sulkyblue's Blog

What's with the ridiculous number of ' scattered around bbc headlines these days? Some of them are ok, some of them are just silly uses of grammar, some of them actually concern me because they spin the news stories in ways that they aren't intended to be. I understand there's character limits on these things, and snappy headlines are tricky to come by without occasionally distorting/exaggerating issues, but many of these I feel most of these would not be harmed by either removing the ' or rephrasing completely.

The following were all on the front page of bbc news when I wrote this.

Coroner 'to show cockpit video'
- What on earth are the ' for there! Strictly speaking a that is a quote, but shouldn't that use "? It's a headline anyways, for a quote that dull you don't need to indicate it surely
Two hurt in 'mail bomb' explosion
It was a bomb. In the mail. I don't think it needs the ' there.
Paedophiles 'to show web names'
- Pretty meaningless with or without the ', the actual headline is "Plan to list paedophile web names" - much better, more accurate, no ' and only 2 characters longer.
Iran envoy 'abducted in Baghdad'
- Well the story says he HAS been abducted, the ' in the headline make me think the story is about something that's open to interpretation.
'Missing' Miss Brazil found in UK
- I'll allow that one, she wasn't really missing.
Climate change 'affecting' China
- Officials have linked issues in China to climate change. By adding in ' the BBC seems to be suggesting that they don't believe the officials, while the tone of the article makes it clear that there is climate change and it's affecting people.
'Nobody planning' attack on Iran
- This is paraphrasing slightly a quote from Tony Blair - "nobody is talking about or planning military intervention". If I were going to do it that way I'd put the whole thing in '. Given that the story is about the quote, I'd also put Blair's name in there.
'Super-scope' opens for business
- I'll let them have that one
Special needs 'costs spiralling'
- Another paraphrased quote, this time using new words, not just rearranging them. This one looks even more dodgy to me as the watchdog doesn't seem as concerned for the actual cost as they are for the cost-effectiveness and the resulting effect on the children's educations.
Death crash woman 'not guilty'
- According to a court of law she's not guilty, why is that in '? Again it makes me think that the BBC (or someone) is criticising that statement. In actual fact the woman was found guilty of careless driving, but not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving... so the headline is both wrong and irritating.

I'll allow the ' in O'Neill to go through without further comment ;0)

Am I just getting bugged by nothing? I have to say since I noticed the ' attack a week or so ago I can't help finding more of them.