Probing journalism

Headline from the Wall Street Journal:

Wal-Mart to probe job applicants

Ouch. That must hurt. Guess I won't be applying there.
Didn't some New York police get in trouble for a similar thing a few years ago?

Ok, enough cheekiness. Sure, the Journal had a readout that this was a story about the retailer starting background checks on its prospective employees (after stories and a lawsuit surfaced in South Carolina, of course, involving alleged in-store child molestation). But probe is one of those words best left alone, especially as a verb, with dealing with people or animals.

Try:

Wal-Mart to check job applicants

Sure, it's not as sexy. And it probably means some slots might want that "Background checks" in the subhed changed to something like "Background reviews" to avoid duplication.

But it's a lot safer.