i typically read cnn.com during the day sometime, just to check out what is happening. well today i feel i was mislead. on the main page, there was a link in the latest news section to a story that said "9-year-old shoots, kills playmate"
and so i clicked on it. it turns out that two young kids were playing in an attic and one accidentally shot the other. it is a very sad story, but it angered me. i wasnt mad at the story itself, but a the news station who provided the article to cnn.com. I understand that if two 10 year old kids are playing, they are playmates. but i also feel that the title of their article is misleading. they used the word playmate because people think Playboy Playmate.
on one hand i appreciate the savvy used by the writer to attract interest to the article. after all, isnt that the purpose of a headline? (and yes, it worked in this case, i probably wouldnt have clicked on a story about a kid shooting another kid. but this is news, and their job is to report it not to trick people) i think that as a news reporter, one should be respectful. in this case there is a kid who was accidentally killed, and a mourning family and community, and it seems to me that all someone cares about is getting page views (or links, referrals, shout outs, whatever...) i am basing that soley on the word choice in the headline. and dont get me wrong, i love good puns and love to make jokes and laugh. i just dont think this type of story is an appropriate one to be sneaky.
i am also purposely not providing the link or the name of that station. however, if you are interested here is the story as reported by a competitor: AltoonaMirror.com
i wonder if there are any professional news reporters or journalists out there reading this that have an opinion...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Hmmm interesting. When first reading their headline I did not think at all of playmates as in scantily clad, plastic surgery laden women. Instead, I felt the headline was misleading because it makes it sound as if the act was premeditated and scandalous. In reality, it was, though tragic, an accident.
IMO, the "tease" was meant to capture attention from a different angle: "WHHHAATT a kid shot another kid, what is the world coming to?"
Just my two cents.
PS - as the Director of Marketing of this blog, I wouldn't recommend a lag time of 3 days between posts. Just a thought...Especially as you are trying to rebrand yourself as a blogger. Daily blogging is essentially in regenerating top-of-the-mind awareness (aka giving people a reason to click again).
thanks for the advice, DoM, i post when i can, but remember some of us have real jobs... [oh snap- no he didn't!]
I have to agree with your DOM. I too didn't think of a Playboy playmate when i heard the term "playmate." However, i understand where you're coming from. Headlines, especially on web sites are designed to be attention-grabbing and catchy. IMO, it's not dishonest or shady, it's just a well-written headline if someone clicks on it thinking it's something else. After all, when it comes to news, more and more people are getting theirs from the web, making news sites (catchy headlines and all) all the more important. I was at a conference over the sumer in ocean city and the topic was digital media and one guy went as far as saying TV stations need to think of themselves as websites that have a TV station, not the other way around.
BB, i understand your point, i just don't think its not shady if they intentionally mislead you. i guess i would feel differently if it were a more fun story. or a TV show or an advertisement, or any other form of entertainment. but they are reporting the news, in this case a child killing another child. when did reporting the news become not about reporting the news, and more about getting hits on a website. its disrespectful to the family of those involved. (again, maybe my example wasn't that extreme and I am the only one who thought p-boy playmate. i just feel like with a normal headline the story isn't on cnn.com, but thats just my opinion)
i watched a story two nights ago on the news about a huge house fire. blah blah blah, 3 minutes in they mentioned if anyone was injured. i am not a professional journalist, but if I were, and i were covering a large fire at a residence, i would probably mention if anyone was hurt during the first 180 seconds on camera.
don't misunderstand me, i love being entertained, especially in the form of humor. and i am not bashing the industry, i understand how it works, and that these are businesses. i just don't love when i am seeking the NEWS and i am not getting it. if i were watching a sitcom or at the movies i would expect it.
maybe i am just getting old and should stick to the newspaper.
Revitalized Blogger,
I understand what you are saying. But you are right, this wasn't the best example.
I do agree wholeheartedly that "news people" make headlines sound as insane as possible in order to get people to watch/listen/read. I believe I just recently heard a headline on tv the other day and questioned the potential "shadyness" of it to my husband.
The lines/headlines they use are actually called "teases" which pretty much sums it all up.
I wish I could think of an example on the spot, but I can't. But sometimes the headline/tease is so completly out there and then you watch the store and they might as well say "neck bone! what really happened is...."
This is a rambling blob, but Revitalized Blogger, I understand your point.
Baseblogger, don't hate me.
BB, don't hate me.
I wanted to comment on this yesterday, but I didn't have time!
First off, I'll also say that I did not think of Playboy when I read the word "playmate."
This might be tangential, but interpretation can vary widely from person to person. It's very much influenced by how a word is most commonly used, and not necessarily its dictionary definition. For example, "playmate" in many people's minds is synonymous with Playboy.
There was a battle over semantics following Hurricane Katrina, when many news outlets used the word "refugee" when describing those who fled New Orleans. There was widespread outrage over this term, as many people link the term refugee with a person who is escaping persecution in a country outside the US.
Well, guess what folks, at its most basic meaning, a refugee is ONE SEEKING REFUGE from something, anything, no strings attached. (a person who flees from home or country to seek refuge elsewhere)
It comes down to accuracy. Headlines should be an accurate synopsis of what the reader can expect in the story. There is nothing inaccurate in the headline you referenced. It doesn't tell the WHOLE story, but no headline can...otherwise what's the point of the story?
It would have been a better headline if it could somehow fit in the word "accidental" but it's not the media's job to determine motive or whether it was accidental, or to pass judgement on kids who play with guns in their attic- that's the job of police and the juvenile court system. The facts are: one kid shot another kid...wanna know more, click here.
i also didn't think of a playboy playmate when i read the title. what nine year old kid would be hanging out with a playmate anyway? boys don't even like girls at that age, do they?? and wouldn't it be Playmate, with a capital P?
may personal favorites are the local news teasers they have on as commercials. "the latest study shows that a favorite vegetable now causes immediate death. could it be the one you're eating right now for dinner? watch fox 25 news at 10 to find out."
really? what if it WAS the one i was eating at that moment...i'd have to wait until 10 to find out? well, i couldn't, because i'd be dead. thanks fox 25.
I really dont think the headline was a farse, and I thought you were being overly optimistic in hoping that a playmate was a Playmate in the headline. Reading the headline, I figured the story would go exactly as you later described it. Maybe that's cause I grew up in white trash PA (I say that in the most endearing way) and accidental shootings because parents are too boneheaded to lock up their guns are a far too frequent occurance (also considering the HUGE hunting population, and I notice the story was in Altoona right?)
Mostly, I find myself wondering why you thought you were going to get a story about a Playboy Playmate.
Post a Comment