Adventures in Bad AP Headline Writing: "City trying to make sense of brutal gang rape"

Okay...

Dear Associated Press:

I know how hard it is to write headlines. I've done it. I did it back in the days when headlines were never something you wrote for a Web site, but only for a certain number of columns dictated to you on a newspaper page by a layout editor. It was tough. You had to give enough information about the story to make people want to read it, yet at the same time you had to be factual, not misleading, sensitive to possible misinterpretations (including unintentionally comic ones, lest you face the ridicule of Jay Leno), and, toughest of all, make it fit the allotted space.

But. That being said. I really think you made a big mistake with this one I found on a Web site this morning. It's about the community in which the horrible gang rape and beating of a teenage girl took place, and how the people there are trying to figure out why it happened and sociologists are saying that it could happen anywhere if certain elements are brought together--alcohol, a naive young girl, a group of men who feel bonded to each other. Of course, they are not saying it would be RIGHT for such a thing to happen; they are trying to explain, rather like one tries to explain the circumstances that caused a war.

All well and good. But you do realize what it looks like when the headline you use to top it is "City trying to make sense of brutal gang rape"?

The problem, in case you haven't figured it out already, is with two words: "make sense."

You don't "make sense" of a violent crime. Violent crimes never "make sense." "Make sense" implies that there was a logic behind what these young men did--some greater method behind their madness that the rest of us have been left to figure out. And when we do, the light will dawn and we will all say, "Ah--so THAT's why they did it! NOW I understand! Now their motives are justified to me! It all makes SENSE to me now!"

There wasn't. Because, of course, there was no master plan here. Just a bunch of guys using alcohol to get a girl drunk enough that they could have sex with her without her being able to effectively resist. And maybe feel closer to each other as a result. Oh, and as long as she can't fight back, why not rough her up? Take her jewelry? What the hell?

But it doesn't "make sense." And it is never justified.

There are other ways this headline could have been phrased that still would have fit the space on the Web page. How about "City soul-searches after brutal gang rape"? Or "City searches for answers after brutal gang rape"?

That's what people do after members of their own society do something terrible they don't want to believe their own would do. That's what people do when something terrible happens and they don't understand how or why.

It's much, much better than implying they're "trying to make sense" of a crime.

Because crime never makes sense.

And it never fits the amount of space we want to give it in our lives.

Which is none.

I worked for the AP for a few years when I first came to Boston.

What is the problem with trying to understand how and why it happened?

Crime is not like an earthquake - it isn't the wrath of god, it is acts committed by people upon other people. If we understand those acts - make sense of them - we can perhaps stop them from happening.

If you just say 'shit happens' I guarantee it WILL happen again.

I DEMAND we make sense of such things.

WTF do you get 'justification' out of 'understanding'?

ON EDIT: Even as I typed my last line I think I came to a certain understanding. It is common in our language and culture to say "I understand" when what we mean is "I sympathize". There is a significant difference between those words, and it is understanding that is needed now, not sympathy for the criminals. IOW, we need to make sense of what happened, to build a true understanding of the incident.

Misogyny in our media, alcohol in young peoples' hands and a general disrespect for humanity.

I understand why it happened. The problem is that our culture isn't going to just go "ta-da" and stop treating women as sex objects or educate young people clearly on the dangers of alcohol and how to respect it.

media would commit rape. General disrespect for humanity captures a sentiment I can understand but in social science we would want a much more concrete term that we could study.

I think "understand" would have been a better term than "make sense" though

"City searches for answers after brutal gang rape"?

and

"City trying to make sense of brutal gang rape"


If a crime is senseless, then it's pointless to search for answers, as there wouldn't be any. In fact, I would think that in context and from the reader's POV, these two headlines are synonymous with the third, which references "soul-searching." The implication is not about rationalizing the act, but rather coming to grips with it in order to implement change.

broke out on a subway.

they do it on purpose with their headlines. this was a couple weeks ago about a fight over coughing on subway in ny. girl on girl. like that wasnt meant to pull in readers.

we see it on cnn all the time. boob, breast, tit...... stripper, even when the story isnt about this or it is just a line. had a article other day on bra to protect from cancer. such a bogus title with the story.