I hate headlines. Yesterday I saw a headline that said "VATICAN NIXES IPHONE." Immediately, I assumed that the Pope must have banned iPhones or something- because isn't that what the headline leads you to believe? The link led me to this article.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41491844/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/
In fact, the article was about how the Vatican maintains that Catholics can not phone in their confessions to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. There's a new iPhone app for Catholics that guides them through an examination of conscience- that is to say, it helps practicing Catholics prepare for the sacrament, but not actually confess on the phone. There's nothing sensational about that- anyone who is familiar with Catholic teaching shouldn't be surprised by that- and yet there I was, terrified that there would be yet another reason for people to jump to assumptions about my faith.
I feel that far too often, mainstream media over-sensationalizes day to day news. If a person were to base their understanding of current events solely off of headlines, they would end up with quite a skewed view of the world. A headline of "BOY FACES COURT, ALLIGATOR SEX TRIAL" certainly paints a certain kind of picture- yet, the article may in fact be about two entirely different things. There seems to be no end to the attention grabbing tactics common in journalism today.
What's your opinion- do you think headlines are intentionally over-hyped to grab attention? Do you think this is necessary- if so, why do you think it got this way?
I want to post something that's going to get you angry at me again, but I won't.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, headlines are intended to do just that-grab your attention. Would you have looked at that article had you not thought the pope had condemned iPhones?
And headlines are necessary. We need to be grabbed. Otherwise, the entire article would be in the same size... It organizes the paper/editorial/blog and we can decide if we want to spend our time reading it or not.
I've definitely seen some headlines which made me follow up and read the article... Sometimes not pertaining to the topic at all. It's the writer's way of making people read his/her writing.
I can see how it is annoying for headlines to be so over dramatic in a sense, but I can also see how that is really a headline's purpose. If a headline grabs attention enough, then someone will read the article, like you did with this article, but if the headline is just a boring summary in a few words, i would think people would be more likely to just read the headlines. A world of one sentenced based knowledge doesn't seem better, actually it seems worse, so I'd say sticking to not so true, but interesting headlines may be the way to go for now.
ReplyDeleteI think that headlines are very important in grabbing people's attention to read the article. Not just that but also to buy the newspaper. Nowadays, all media sources depend on their catchy headlines to succeed, especially when headlines refer to sensitive topics like religion and racism.
ReplyDeletePeople like reading about problems and conflicts, so media is doing its best to emphasize such topics or sometimes to create them.
Thank you for your intersting post.