Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Talk about misleading headlines
I would be glad to make a stink about misleading headlines about Obama, not just about McCain, if there were any that I've seen. The headlines are complimentary and generous about him. That may be fallacious, too, but it's not as annoying. I don't agree with McCain and Palin on most issues but until we walk into the voting booth and pull the levers, we haven't actually made a decision. The press (print or otherwise) shouldn't be controlling my opinion of the candidates - the candidates should be doing that - yet every day this keeps happening.
Here are the top "Latest News" headlines on CNN's front page this afternoon.
That ticker headline clearly implies that someone on the McCain/Palin team, probably someone not very important since they're not named but referred to as an aide, derided Palin's abilities to run a company and, by extension, the country.
So you click on the Ticker and see the article headline that says "Fiorina: Palin, McCain not qualified to run company" so now you're figuring that someone important thinks little of McCain or Palin as far as their qualifications for high office. But it turns out that the person speaking is Carly Fiorina, the former successful CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and that she's not an aide at all but the chair of a McCain committee. So you read the article:
And it turns out that Fiorina said something altogether different from what the Ticker or the article headline said or implied. Fiorina actually said that none of the candidates could run a company, none of them (neither Obama nor Biden nor McCain nor Palin) but not because they're incompetent, no, because none has any business experience. And she also says that business experience isn't necessarily relevant or germane. All those words and disinformation for that unsurprising - and not negative - assessment.
The "ticker" could have stated that "Obama couldn't run company" just as accurately and just as misleadingly. Or Biden or McCain. Why did it single out Palin when that wasn't what Fiorina said?
ENOUGH! The press should let us decide what we think about what Obama and McCain propose to do and/or not do if they become president.
It's utterly ridiculous that it's so difficult to find out what the candidates for the highest offices in our government really say or think without being pointed away from them. The whole point of headlines is to alert readers or viewers to what we might want to read or view, not to mislead and skew us away from facts and statements that might help us make reasoned and informed decisions.
Here are the top "Latest News" headlines on CNN's front page this afternoon.
That ticker headline clearly implies that someone on the McCain/Palin team, probably someone not very important since they're not named but referred to as an aide, derided Palin's abilities to run a company and, by extension, the country.
So you click on the Ticker and see the article headline that says "Fiorina: Palin, McCain not qualified to run company" so now you're figuring that someone important thinks little of McCain or Palin as far as their qualifications for high office. But it turns out that the person speaking is Carly Fiorina, the former successful CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and that she's not an aide at all but the chair of a McCain committee. So you read the article:
And it turns out that Fiorina said something altogether different from what the Ticker or the article headline said or implied. Fiorina actually said that none of the candidates could run a company, none of them (neither Obama nor Biden nor McCain nor Palin) but not because they're incompetent, no, because none has any business experience. And she also says that business experience isn't necessarily relevant or germane. All those words and disinformation for that unsurprising - and not negative - assessment.
The "ticker" could have stated that "Obama couldn't run company" just as accurately and just as misleadingly. Or Biden or McCain. Why did it single out Palin when that wasn't what Fiorina said?
ENOUGH! The press should let us decide what we think about what Obama and McCain propose to do and/or not do if they become president.
It's utterly ridiculous that it's so difficult to find out what the candidates for the highest offices in our government really say or think without being pointed away from them. The whole point of headlines is to alert readers or viewers to what we might want to read or view, not to mislead and skew us away from facts and statements that might help us make reasoned and informed decisions.
Labels: 2008 election, anger, writing
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