San Jose Mercury News Takes Aim With Poor Choice of Words

Like my catchy headline. It takes a special talent to come up with these headlines, and in traditional mainstream media the headline is usually carefully considered to draw attention to the story. That’s why stories that are often cut and dry offer jazzy headlines that promise more than they deliver. So we can’t blame the writer of the story, but whoever wrote the headline was looking for a more sensational headline for a story in the San Jose Mercury News this week:

“Investigators: Shasta County man guns down thief”

The actual story is less sensational and more of a neighborhood tragedy. In the early hours on Sunday morning a man called 911 to report that he had shot a man on his front yard. Apparently the owner of the house caught an acquaintance “allegedly trying to steal tools and other equipment” and when confronted the alleged thief “went after” the owner. The headline makes it seem like something out of a gangster film or video game, rather than a case of self-defense. Poor choice of words indeed.