(I am a co-author on the paper). Your criticism of the title is valid. But re: your line "the linked reference is supposed to be a scholarly work from a leadi

(I am a co-author on the paper). Your criticism of the title is valid. But re: your line "the linked reference is supposed to be a scholarly work from a leading educational institution" Note that the bad title belongs to an article written for the popular media (and written by non-experts). It is not the title of the "scholarly work" that the article describes. The scholarly work (http://stanford.edu/~ppd/papers/pnas-polarization.pdf http://stanford.edu/~ppd/papers/pnas-polarization.pdf) has a pretty dry title that no one in the popular media would use. I am not condoning the mistake, just pointing that it is less egregious than what you seem to be implying.