Russian Rocket Hits Wyoming

Harmonious Botch wrote in with a CNN story that opens: "A spent Russian booster rocket re-entered the atmosphere Thursday over Colorado and Wyoming, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said. NORAD spokesman Sean Kelly said the agency was trying to confirm a report that a piece of the rocket may have hit the ground near Riverton, Wyoming, at about 6 a.m. Kelly said military personnel had not yet reached the scene. No damage was reported and the debris was not believed to be hazardous, NORAD said. Eyewitnesses reported seeing flaming objects in the sky at the time the rocket was re-entering, Kelly said."

Comments

Sensationalist title or what!?

[syousef]

Come on. Try Russian space debris hits...not rocket. It hasn't been (part of) a rocket in some time...

Oh wait, that'd actually be good journalism. Can't have that.

Re:Sensationalist title or what!?

[uber_geek9]

Exactly. Sensationalism pisses me off like nothing else. You can call the story whatever you like -- it's not going to make it a bigger deal just because you make it sound scarier.

But hey, it's only Slashdot. CNN's title was "NORAD looking for Russian rocket in Wyoming".

Re:How is it misleading?

[MyLongNickName]

"Anonymous coward will not stop molesting badgers"

Since the Anonymous coward never molested badgers in the first place, the above headline is correct. Simply because something is technically correct does not mean it is misleading. You might want to look at the difference between "mislead" and "lie" in the dictionary. Kind of reminds me of the RNC fund raising letter where "Bush cuts deficit 40% in two years". Factually correct, but does not mention that Bush caused the deficit in the first place.

Re:How is it misleading?

[dgatwood]

The truly misleading word here is not "hit". The misleading word is "rocket". Had it said "rocket fragment", it would not have been misleading or particularly sensationalized to say that it hit Wyoming. In much the same way, saying "a busload of thirty people died today" is not the same thing as saying "the driver of a busload of thirty people killed himself today". :-)

Could be worse. It could have said "Russian rocket explodes over Wyoming."