# Odd news headlines

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-news-headlines/776623>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 8, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-news-headlines/776623 "2017-01-08T14:45:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-news-headlines/776623/1 "2017-01-08T14:45:48Z")

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Now and then I see headlines like this:

John Smith says sky is blue : Report

Why is “report” at the end of the headline? That looks really out of place to me.

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-news-headlines/776623/2 "2017-01-08T14:56:42Z")

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This type of thing is done to signal that this is not breaking news or a single recent event but some sort of in-depth investigative reporting. “John Smith has a long history of blue-sky proclamations. These assertions have typically been met with skepticism in the past, but there has been a recent trend of siding with his one-outrageous claims. Why did he start making these statements in the first place? Smith was born in a modest farm town…”

Adding “Report” is also a bit melodramatic, IMHO.

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**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-news-headlines/776623/3 "2017-01-08T15:53:21Z")

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Or the part after the colon can be an attribution. Similar to:

_Drugs Found in Jane Doe’s Trouser Pockets : Police Chief_

So the “Report” may not come from the journalists at all, but from an outside source. The one in the OP is unlikely, but:

_Oceans Warming Faster Than Expected : Report_

would indicate that a university or research organisation had published a report containing said claim.

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**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-news-headlines/776623/4 "2017-01-08T18:52:17Z")

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Reporters report reporting: Report