[Bucco]

Originally Posted by Villages PL

When you read the newspaper, if you're like most people, you read the article or column heading first. And you use the heading/headline to decide whether or not to read what follows. Some articles you will read and some you won't, it just depends on what grabs your interest.

In order for this method to work well, it's important that the heading accurately reflect what's in the article. But I have found this to be lacking at times. Caution: headlines can be misleading!

Case in point: In the "health" section I read a column headline as follows: "Lessen cancer risk with more protein". When you read that headline, what is your immediate thought? What kind of protein would you picture? I believe you would picture all kinds of animal protein such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy, right? And you might think your diet already contains enough protein so why bother waisting time reading about it. You might move along to the next heading.

Well, you would have been wrong. There was nothing in the article about animal protein. The subject was about vegetable protein and the potential of it being able to lower one's risk for breast cancer.

The heading could easily have been: "Lessen cancer risk with vegetable protein." And that would have been a much more accurate reflection of what the article was about.

What good is a newspaper if you can't rely on accurate headings or headlines? Who has the time to read every article or column? Practically no one. So we need headings that accurately reflect the content of the article or column. Then we can decide whether or not to read it.

When I called the newspaper to complain about this, the person in charge of the health section was very defensive about it. She chalked it up to just being a matter of opinion and didn't think anyone would get the wrong impression by just reading the heading.

You have to wonder how many articles you passed up because you got the wrong impression of what it was about.

A pet peeve of mine....well, media in general, but the misleading headlines that catch your eye.

This is an oft used tactic by some newspapers that have a strong tie to a political view and knowing that most folks do not read below the sub headline use that to intentionally mislead the person who is scouring headlines, which unfortunately encompasses most readers.

A paper in Tampa is nationally known for this tactic, but if you want a real example.....someday when there is breaking political news bring up the New York Daily News and the New York Post at the same time.....same story but if you stopped at the headline, you will have a completely different twist on it.

There are a number of websites that employ the same tactic. One was used on here in the gun debate....headline was a total lie, and if you read the article it was all...could be's, might be;'s etc.

Problem is that most people do not read....they skim the headlines and move on. That is why the cable news channels are popular. You can tell folks how well informed you are by watching the HEADLINE news, BUT you are not well informed. You are manipulated by editors and such who want to potray a story in a certain way with a certain spin.