Wanted: An Editor With A Brain...

Someone really ought to lose their job for this one. Here's the headline:

New Legislation Decriminalizes Child Prostitution

And here's the story:

SACRAMENTO -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law Sunday that would help young prostitutes. The legislation decriminalizes the actions of minors involved in the sex trade. Instead of punishing them, they would be treated as victims.

Currently, if a minor is picked up for prostitution, she is charged as a criminal and sent to juvenile. But this law would change that and connect young girls with counselors and services they need. The law would also help girls who want to bring charges against a pimp.

That's a world apart from decriminalizing child prostitution right there. That's either very sloppy editing or outright manipulation at worst... The headline sure as hell sounds like CA was about to stop prosecuting people who frequent child prostitutes, which is obviously not the case...

In cases like this you have to wonder if it's intentional; if the editor deliberately stated it this way to draw attention to the story and make you read it. In that case, he should get the hell out of editing and into marketing...

That is all.