My generation seems to read headlines on social media and nothing else. I wonder if it was the same back in the newspaper days. Would your average person see the headlines in the paper and stop there?
What I learned in journalism classes: yes, they mostly did. People would read the headline and, if the story was of some interest to them, the first paragraph. Most readers wouldn't read the full story unless it was something of particular interest to them.
We were taught that the first paragraph of a story should summarize the entire story because most people won't read past that.
Also, people tend to think they are informed about a story even when they just read the headline alone, despite that being obviously nonsensical.
We were taught that the first paragraph of a story should summarize the entire story because most people won't read past that.
Also because it's better writing. For that purpose, anyway.
One can find readable images of e.g. late 19th and early 20th century papers that followed this style like it was the word of God, and they are so nice and effortless to read.
people tend to think they are informed about a story even when they just read the headline alone
Well, when the headline is "Lost hiker found using Apple Watch" or "Airline grounds fleet due to loose bolts" or "potential presidential candidate says something that sounds stupid" or "AMD says their new chips are faster than last year's chips", then I don't really need to read anything further to know the gist of the story, do I?
Yes, you do, unless the story isn't important to you. Even then, you shouldn't let the knowledge of a headline lead you to think that you know what's happened. Headlines are not written by the person who wrote the story, and are often misleading. The only thing a headline informs you about is the general topic of the story.
Thinking that the headline is a summary of the story or accurately reflects what the story says is risky.
The two primary ways that bias sneaks into news reporting are through story selection and through the choice of headline.
Unfortunately, headlines are frequently contradicted by the text in the article. For the headlines that are enticing enough to get high on social media, it seems like more than half are misleading.
Comments
My generation seems to read headlines on social media and nothing else. I wonder if it was the same back in the newspaper days. Would your average person see the headlines in the paper and stop there?
What I learned in journalism classes: yes, they mostly did. People would read the headline and, if the story was of some interest to them, the first paragraph. Most readers wouldn't read the full story unless it was something of particular interest to them.
We were taught that the first paragraph of a story should summarize the entire story because most people won't read past that.
Also, people tend to think they are informed about a story even when they just read the headline alone, despite that being obviously nonsensical.
Also because it's better writing. For that purpose, anyway.
One can find readable images of e.g. late 19th and early 20th century papers that followed this style like it was the word of God, and they are so nice and effortless to read.
Well, when the headline is "Lost hiker found using Apple Watch" or "Airline grounds fleet due to loose bolts" or "potential presidential candidate says something that sounds stupid" or "AMD says their new chips are faster than last year's chips", then I don't really need to read anything further to know the gist of the story, do I?
Yes, you do, unless the story isn't important to you. Even then, you shouldn't let the knowledge of a headline lead you to think that you know what's happened. Headlines are not written by the person who wrote the story, and are often misleading. The only thing a headline informs you about is the general topic of the story.
Thinking that the headline is a summary of the story or accurately reflects what the story says is risky.
The two primary ways that bias sneaks into news reporting are through story selection and through the choice of headline.
Unfortunately, headlines are frequently contradicted by the text in the article. For the headlines that are enticing enough to get high on social media, it seems like more than half are misleading.
Probably. There's a reason "above the fold" is a term.
And burying the lede:
or "one weird thing"