Keep your EMPHASIS out of the HEADLINES

Each week I cruise through the online version of the old hometown newspaper.  I enjoy catching up and feeling a bit connected to the place I grew up.

The paper is a weekly and for the most part does a good job of balancing the bake sale at the nursing home highlights with the larger news stories.

I noticed a headline related to the Governors budget proposal and take issue with how it is presented.

"deep STATE cuts expected TO HURT LOCAL AREA"   Perhaps its a typo, but the emphasis seems to be a bit "non-neutral" and a tad judgmental.  (hey, conservative voters - you get what you voted for... NOTHING)

It reminded me of a helpful article I read in a management book by Dilbert that talked about creative editing.  The suggestion was that you could edit any statement in anyway and as long as you left the words in the correct order you weren't lying.  The example looked a lot like this:

"The Pope commended Mother Teresa today for her stance on food distribution for the poor.  She is against the stealing of food like potatoes and rice from one region to ship to another region.  Local food should feed local families."

Edited: 
"The Pope commended Mother Teresa today for her stance on food distribution for the poor.  She is against the stealing of food like potatoes and rice from one region to ship to another region.  Local food should feed local families.."

Cleaned up
"Mother Teresa is stealing potatoes from local families."

All the words are there, therefore it must be true. 

(funny how I start on one point and then wander to another... I'm NOT A JOURNALIST, continuity rules may be applied loosely.)

My original point is that every newspaper (and network for that matter) should remember one of the key journalistic principals that Edward R. Murrow brought to the profession - State the facts and be neutral.  Opinions are for the OP-ED page. 

And now, for an actual quote:

To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.

-Edward R. Murrow


Anyway, this applies to all news agencies.  I want the facts, I can form my own decision if it is courageous, outrageous or simply not interesting.