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The phenomenal NBA player Jeremy Lin has caused quite a stir with his last-minute game-winning shots and good-guy demeanor. He's also a rarity: An Asian-American player. Not to mention, he graduated from Harvard.
All very newsworthy and exciting. And it doesn't hurt that his last name is easy to make fun headlines with: "Lin the knick of time," "Linsanity," "Linning streak."
But it's also easy to take it too far -- to rely on puns and stereotyping in headlines rather than wit or originality. Case in point: An ESPN employee was fired and another suspended over the weekend for a racist headline and remarks about Lin, made under the guise of "being clever."
Two lessons here: Listen to your internal alarms that tell you when a headline is bad, a pun doesn't work, etc., and never post anything online "just for a minute" or "just to see what it looks like."
Secondly, even the best-intentioned remarks can come across as stereotypical, so pay attention. My Society for Features Journalism colleague, Poynter faculty member and Dallas Morning News Sunday and Enterprise Editor Tom Huang notes that well-meaning adjectives such as quiet and thoughtful, or assuming he has certain traits being a Harvard grad or Christian, can be dangerous.
The next time a clever headline idea hits you, consider -- would you want to be described in such a way? Is it based on fact or assumption? Will readers get it? Talk it through with a colleague before publishing online or placing on a page.
