The New York Times Is Using Emoticons in Headlines Now: Awesome or End of World?
SodaHead Fun
2011/09/30 22:33:52
|
|
|||||
|
96 votes
|
|
29% | |||
|
238 votes
|
|
71% | |||
Whoever thinks the end of good journalism is near, they may have an even stronger case now than they did before. The New York Times -- you know, that dinky little newspaper in that one random city -- is using emoticons for their headlines now. And we don't just mean they're doing it as a cute little bonus to a light-hearted article -- they're inserting it as an actual replacement to a word in the headline.
On a recent article about Twitter and mood swings, The New York Times decided that a happy face emoticon would be more appropriate than writing out the word "happy." Talk about lazy. It's not even a long word, NYT!
Well after receiving some negative press from...well, everyone...the Times' Senior Software Architect tried to clarify the surprising decision on Twitter. "Just to be clear, the
is not in the print headline or the e-headline sent to electronic devices," Harris tweeted. “It’s just some homepage fun.”
Homepage fun or not, according to The Cutline’s Dylan Stableford, this is the first time that “an emoticon was used to convey information in a headline.” Though, apparently, it's not the first time that an emoticon has been used by journalists and editors in the headline.
The best part of this story is that "Curb Your Enthusiasm" totally predicted this trend in its newest season. Way to go, Larry. We knew you had all the answers.
On a recent article about Twitter and mood swings, The New York Times decided that a happy face emoticon would be more appropriate than writing out the word "happy." Talk about lazy. It's not even a long word, NYT!
Well after receiving some negative press from...well, everyone...the Times' Senior Software Architect tried to clarify the surprising decision on Twitter. "Just to be clear, the
is not in the print headline or the e-headline sent to electronic devices," Harris tweeted. “It’s just some homepage fun.”Homepage fun or not, according to The Cutline’s Dylan Stableford, this is the first time that “an emoticon was used to convey information in a headline.” Though, apparently, it's not the first time that an emoticon has been used by journalists and editors in the headline.
The best part of this story is that "Curb Your Enthusiasm" totally predicted this trend in its newest season. Way to go, Larry. We knew you had all the answers.
Top Opinion
-
die Küss der Tod 2011/10/01 01:04:51End of World
+13Since when did this seem like a good idea? Newspapers are supposed to be all about formal language...and now they're going to use emoticons? That is just bizarre. Emoticons belong in chatrooms and instant messages, not in newspapers (especially not headlines).
So, sorry, I have to say nix to this type of thing and let's start making sure that our teachers, from K through 12, all know the English language well enough to pass on good communication skills to their students.
But I feel :)
Oh - and btw, the demographics for this question at the time I anwered it are really interesting, the pattern is obvious:
click on it for a larger view or click the book symbol in the demographics.
The disadvantge is for "older" people like myself that we don't do much texting or on the web & chatroom too much; therefore we are not familiar with the text emoticons.
Newspapers, magazines or any publications..these are for general public, therefore I don't think it is appropriate to use the emoticons.
Then again, the headline to that article is about Twitter. If this is a means of attracting young people to read the newspapers, it's a little too late for that. Most of them already know most, if not all, the tricks to Twitter. Also, I've never found the New York Times to be an appealing newspaper. We get copies here and well, I've read it a few times. Not very intriguing to say the least.
Being in print since 1851 with one hundred and six Pulitzer Prizes (the most of any news organization), I'm sure this "dinky" newspaper in that "random" *state* - not "city" - reserves the right to use an emoticon in the title of an article. No sense acting as if you've never even used one before.