news commentary

Glenn Agliotti lambasted - headline
This is the headline was in the Mail& Guardian news paper, about the ongoing story of the convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti, a very interesting story. The date was the 14th of October 2009
Effectiveness-the headline to some extent is effective, it drew my attention; Agliotti was called by the state to testify against Jackie Selebi, by reading the headline you get the sense of what is going to follow. He seemed to know more about him and now he is exposed by the court that he is a liar. The headline is related to the story and the incident that happened in court, of him confessing that he lies when it suit him.

Verb-the verb lambasted is very exaggerating and aggressive for instance it’s as if Agliotti has been confronted for lying, also the verb is ridiculous and dehumanising.
Short-the head line is short and catchy; you do not need to read for long a long time. It is just one glance and you got the entire headline.
Attractive -language and raising question: the headline is attractive especially the words and used in the headline. Agiotti has been on the news recently for all the wrong doing so every thing negative about him is interesting to large number of audiences. As people always want to know what is going to come next.

Clear and accurate- it is not accurate why is he lambasted. You have to be someone following the story to understand why he is lambasted, you cannot only read the headline and get the sense of what is going to follow, unless you knew that it was his day in court but the headline is clear, only three words used.

Informative- This headline contain who and what, the where, why and how is not there in the headline. it is informative in the sense that to people who are following every bits of this story they will know what the news is about, but to someone who is not following the story I am not sure that is the case.
An accurate headline would be; Agliotti lambasted in court for lying