Assignment 2 – Part A: Question 1

1. Headline Resonance (6 marks)  

Find one (1) headline you recently encountered that you felt was effective.  

a) Provide the exact headline  

“Wake-up call: Toronto councillor says the city should follow New York and pay residents to shovel snow.” 

b) Explain why it resonated with you  

The phrase “wake-up call” immediately caught my attention. The headline suggests an unusual proposal to pay residents for shoveling snow, which made me curious about what problem the councillor wants to solve. 

c) Tie your explanation directly to specific headline elements discussed in class  

• Emotional trigger / urgency – “wake-up call” conveys urgency; 

• Curiosity gap – it mentions a problem that needs fixing; 

• Specificity – it mentions a specific proposal (paying); 

• Relevance – it concerns a local (to me) issue in Toronto.