Why the Differences?

I know that several of the journalism classes this semester examine, and critique, the physical layout of newspapers. Something that caught my eye today was the differences in how the same story was treated in the print edition of the Los Angeles Times and the online edition.

The execution of Stanley Williams was the top story (i.e. above the fold in print, and on the website's front page) in the editions I looked at on Tuesday. However, in the Orange County print edition the headline simply reads "Tookie Williams Is Executed," in the Los Angeles print edition the headline is "Williams is Denied Clemency," while in the online edition the headline reads "The Williams Execution: L.A. Ganglord Put to Death at San Quentin." A question for journalism students to consider is what is the purpose in creating a more provacative, online headline? Additionally, different photographs were used in each edition to accompany the headline and article. Again the question is "why?"