Dear Journalists: avoid Sensationalism when writing headlines
There is a right and a wrong way to do everything; writing journalistic headlines is no different.
Correct: British tabloid, News of the World to shut down amid phone hacking scams.
Incorrect: Fox News’ sister publication, News of the World to shut down under suspicion of phone hacking; the latest in Rupert Murdoch’s media outlets failing to live up to journalistic integrity.
Sensationalism is the name of the game in news/journalism these days. One of the negative effects of capitalism is its effects on information dissemination. Regardless of the information a news outlet is sharing, and despite their purpose as defined by the FCC, news outlets exist for one reason, and one reason only: to make money and grow profits and fan-base (readership, viewership, listenership etc). Stations that air news make “ends meet” by selling advertising, advertisers want consistency (same audience with the same buying habits, watching the same programs, at the same time, with the same socio-economic demographic information). One of the ways that outlets attract this coveted stable audience is to air programming with the same slant, in the same time slot daily/weekly. Unfortunately, this creates a culture of pontificating opinions, editorializing facts and fear mongering to name a few. Do yourself a favor, try your best to receive your news from an unbiased source. Look for the actual news, don’t listen to a pundit editorialize.
