There are times when language in headlines can be far too confrontational, far too polarising. The Sky News website today, for example, carries a headline on its homepage: ‘Road Charging: Blair Defies Petition‘. Have a read of the emailed response… and tell me, is defiance the right word? Hardly. The headline on the story itself is much better – ‘Blair Won’t Give Way’ – with extra marks for the traffic pun.
Of course, minds are probably on other things at Osterley today. They must be quite relieved to have won last night’s RTS award for News Channel Of The Year, following News 24’s success last year… and a particular ‘well done’ to Dominic Waghorn, named TV journalist of the year. (Was Chris Rogers really nominated? Hardly a Premier League reporter: he seems to be doing some very odd freelance shifts these days, including in the wee small hours on Five Live.)
Incidentally – look out for new on-screen graphics on Sky before the end of the month. I hear talk of ‘a new way of alerting you to breaking news’, which sounds ominous.