THE PROBLEM WITH ALL-CAP HEADLINES

(Besides the fact that they look like they're SHOUTING at you...)

When we first read this headline in today's NewsScan Daily e-newsletter, we thought it was a misprint:

ACS PUSHES OWN IT 'LICENSE'

At first glance, the headline looks like it was intended to read, "ACS PUSHES ITS OWN 'LICENSE'" or "ACS PUSHES ITS OWN-IT 'LICENSE'" (the meaning of which we had yet to discern). However, on third reading, our fuzzy morning brain gradually realized that--NewsScan being a publication about technology news--the "IT" in the headline was referring to "Information Technology."

So we finally got it, but it took a bit of work to get there. And no headline is worth that amount of work. Please, fellow editors, take it easy on your poor, tired readers. Don't assume they know what IT means, even if they should, and DON'T PUT HEADLINES IN ALL CAPS.

http://www.newsscan.com/