6 ms·

It’s so widely acknowledged that headlines mislead, and also that people often only read the headline. Why does the editorial practice of shitty headlines persi

It’s so widely acknowledged that headlines mislead, and also that people often only read the headline. Why does the editorial practice of shitty headlines persist so strongly? It seems like journalistic integrity goes so much further with article content than article headlines, so why do they put up with it?

renewiltord 6y ago
Because it is a market optimal strategy. Since consumers express strong preference for emotional headlines, it is optimal to give them that. Consumers frequently lie that they prefer honest headlines, but that is merely a mismatch between their true beliefs and the identity they wish to project themselves as having. One strategy for success is to be the fall guy for everything. And then be paid for it. Journalism ultimately is this: it launders views you have so that you can express them as if they were consensus views and also, it takes outrageous positions so that you can describe yourself in opposition.
- nitrogen 6y ago
  Consumers frequently lie that they prefer honest headlines No. "Revealed preference" is exploitation of vice, plain and simple. Addicts might honestly say they would prefer to abstain, but still relapse. The same dopamine systems are being exploited in either case.
  - qsort 6y ago
    That's a distinction without a difference. An addict who says they prefer to abstain but doesn't, doesn't actually prefer to abstain. Where preferences come from is irrelevant. De gustibus non disputandum est.
    - nitrogen 6y ago
      This is conflating desires/aspirations/preferences with basic drives. Everyone has base instincts that we inherited through evolution, and more evolutionarily recent executive control that we have to exercise and develop. "Revealed preference" tends to manipulate the base instinct at the expense of executive control.
    - zepto 6y ago
      By that logic, there is no such thing as addiction.
    - TeMPOraL 6y ago
      No. Revealed preferences are manipulative bullshit. Calling choices forced by external conditions (whether it's your own addiction, manipulative headlines or strong market pressure) choices is just a way to whitewash deeply immoral manipulation, and justify selfishness as serving others what they "want".
  - zepto 6y ago
    Revealed preference is just a way to make manipulative marketing sound more noble than just applied behaviorism.
- Blikkentrekker 6y ago
  > Because it is a market optimal strategy. Since consumers express strong preference for emotional headlines, it is optimal to give them that. Consumers frequently lie that they prefer honest headlines, but that is merely a mismatch between their true beliefs and the identity they wish to project themselves as having. It is also a fine explanation as to why countries often have all these noble rights in their constitutions, and everyday technicalities by which they are legally evaded. The people don't want these rights to exist, they want to claim they want them to exist. They want to say “Better a thousand guilty men go free, than a single innocent man be in prison!”, but what they really want is conviction upon præponderance of evidence, together with the all to common mentality of “It won't happen to me.”.
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
It persists in order to get people to read the paper. This is openly acknowledged in the industry (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/09/insider/how-to-write-a-new-york-times-headline.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/09/insider/how-to-write-a-ne... ); headline writers are aiming to "[create] a mystery that can only be solved by reading further" and "reach and draw in as many people as possible", while making sure they don't "give away the ending". Journalistic integrity isn't as strong of a concern simply because it's not the journalists who write headlines.
- ianhorn 6y ago
  > Journalistic integrity isn't as strong of a concern simply because it's not the journalists who write headlines. Shouldn’t it still concern them? If I wrote a piece about Obama making a hard choice to fund orphanages or schools and it got a headline “Obama yanks funding from orphans” then I’d be pissed. Journalistic integrity of headlines needs to at least be somebody’s concern.
Blikkentrekker 6y ago
Because a man rarely realizes how often they mislead, when the headline tell him what he wants to hear. All the very rational criticism often put forth about such principles is seemingly saved for disagreement and scrutiny for what one does not wish to hear. I daresay that many on H.N. would relish a sensationalist haedline such as “How Microsoft and Intel planned for RISC-V to never take the market.”, which upon closer inspection in the article would be less sensationalist than what the headline suggests.

renewiltord 6y ago

Because it is a market optimal strategy. Since consumers express strong preference for emotional headlines, it is optimal to give them that. Consumers frequently lie that they prefer honest headlines, but that is merely a mismatch between their true beliefs and the identity they wish to project themselves as having. One strategy for success is to be the fall guy for everything. And then be paid for it. Journalism ultimately is this: it launders views you have so that you can express them as if they were consensus views and also, it takes outrageous positions so that you can describe yourself in opposition.

nitrogen 6y ago
Consumers frequently lie that they prefer honest headlines No. "Revealed preference" is exploitation of vice, plain and simple. Addicts might honestly say they would prefer to abstain, but still relapse. The same dopamine systems are being exploited in either case.
- qsort 6y ago
  That's a distinction without a difference. An addict who says they prefer to abstain but doesn't, doesn't actually prefer to abstain. Where preferences come from is irrelevant. De gustibus non disputandum est.
  - nitrogen 6y ago
    This is conflating desires/aspirations/preferences with basic drives. Everyone has base instincts that we inherited through evolution, and more evolutionarily recent executive control that we have to exercise and develop. "Revealed preference" tends to manipulate the base instinct at the expense of executive control.
  - zepto 6y ago
    By that logic, there is no such thing as addiction.
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    No. Revealed preferences are manipulative bullshit. Calling choices forced by external conditions (whether it's your own addiction, manipulative headlines or strong market pressure) choices is just a way to whitewash deeply immoral manipulation, and justify selfishness as serving others what they "want".
- zepto 6y ago
  Revealed preference is just a way to make manipulative marketing sound more noble than just applied behaviorism.
Blikkentrekker 6y ago
> Because it is a market optimal strategy. Since consumers express strong preference for emotional headlines, it is optimal to give them that. Consumers frequently lie that they prefer honest headlines, but that is merely a mismatch between their true beliefs and the identity they wish to project themselves as having. It is also a fine explanation as to why countries often have all these noble rights in their constitutions, and everyday technicalities by which they are legally evaded. The people don't want these rights to exist, they want to claim they want them to exist. They want to say “Better a thousand guilty men go free, than a single innocent man be in prison!”, but what they really want is conviction upon præponderance of evidence, together with the all to common mentality of “It won't happen to me.”.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago

It persists in order to get people to read the paper. This is openly acknowledged in the industry (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/09/insider/how-to-write-a-new-york-times-headline.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/09/insider/how-to-write-a-ne... ); headline writers are aiming to "[create] a mystery that can only be solved by reading further" and "reach and draw in as many people as possible", while making sure they don't "give away the ending". Journalistic integrity isn't as strong of a concern simply because it's not the journalists who write headlines.

ianhorn 6y ago
> Journalistic integrity isn't as strong of a concern simply because it's not the journalists who write headlines. Shouldn’t it still concern them? If I wrote a piece about Obama making a hard choice to fund orphanages or schools and it got a headline “Obama yanks funding from orphans” then I’d be pissed. Journalistic integrity of headlines needs to at least be somebody’s concern.

Blikkentrekker 6y ago

Because a man rarely realizes how often they mislead, when the headline tell him what he wants to hear. All the very rational criticism often put forth about such principles is seemingly saved for disagreement and scrutiny for what one does not wish to hear. I daresay that many on H.N. would relish a sensationalist haedline such as “How Microsoft and Intel planned for RISC-V to never take the market.”, which upon closer inspection in the article would be less sensationalist than what the headline suggests.