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FLASHPOINT for Mar 04, 2007

Monday, March 5, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

Anyone who writes stories or columns knows how valuable a good headline writer can be. It is a special talent to be both pithy and brief, to be clever in a confined space. The right headline can draw many extra readers to a story or column that otherwise might not be read. That's the good side. The bad side is when headline writers are lazy and write boring toppers to the articles, sometimes with unintended hilarity. A perfect example came in last week's Reno Gazette-Journal over a story on the governor's legal team: "Gibbons to cooperate in FBI investigation." This is what we call a dog bites man headline. Stop the presses! The governor is cooperating? If he were not cooperating ... now that would be a headline.

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