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I've found the following to be of unparalleled utility in evaluating truth claims in journalism: If the headline ends with a question mark, the answer is "No."
by redthrowaway 15y ago
I've found the following to be of unparalleled utility in evaluating truth claims in journalism:
If the headline ends with a question mark, the answer is "No."
No caveats, no special cases, just "No." If the question asked had half a chance of being true, it would have been stated, not asked.
- _delirium 15y agoAlso known as Betteridge's Law of Headlines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridges_Law_of_Headlines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridges_Law_of_Headlines Although sometimes the answer can be "yes", because they phrase the ridiculous insinuation the other way. For example, "Do cellphones kill you?" follows Betteridge's law, but the (actual) CNN headline "Are cell phones safe to use?" asks the same question inverted.
- redthrowaway 15y agoI knew I'd seen it somewhere. Thanks for the link.