Sunday, March 25, 2007

Is It That Hard to Write Headlines?

Iran doesn't like the sanctions the UN Security Council imposed.

This is what the AP headline states:

"Iran partially suspends U.N. cooperation"

The first line of the story reports:

Iran announced Sunday that it was partially suspending cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, citing the "illegal and bullying" U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on the country for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.


So recall, Iran is not cooperating with the UN over secret nuclear programs. So after years of not knowing the Iranians were avoiding UN scrutiny and more years of pleading with the Iranians to cooperate, the UN slaps some mild sanctions on Iran.

And then, only then, after this history, the article reports that Iran says that they will start being uncooperative. As if it is our fault.

Is it so tough to write a headline that accurately reflects what even the story reports on?