DID YOU READ THESE “STORIES” THIS WEEK?
Newspapers are slowly becoming obsolete, and most of them are now turning to electronic formats. It saves on paper and is more easily accessible to more people online. However, there is one disadvantage that I have been able to identify. It appears to me that many e-newspapers are becoming desperate for enough stories to make their website interesting to readers. How else can you explain the following news headlines taken from a series of popular newspaper websites this week?
Could you fall in love with a robot?
Federal government opens consultations on definition of vodka
Vancouver eatery where rat allegedly found in soup to close
World’s cutest dog dies from heartbreak
Rent-a-sister: Coaxing Japan’s young men out of their rooms
'Why I wanted a tattoo on my mastectomy scar’
Romeo the frog found his Juliet
Emotional support alligator comforts Pennsylvania man
How sticky gloves have changed football
Roadkill for dinner? Rules vary by province and territory in Canada
Baby stingray grown in sandwich bag
Porn magazines scrapped ahead of Tokyo Olympics
Saudi Arabia to host Spanish-style 'bull run’
It seems to me that these kind of odd and bizarre headlines found in recent online news sites are not really news. They are attempts to elevate a non-story to something to fill space. They are designed to tantalize the reader to read the details and thus remain on the website longer. I don’t know if it works or not, but I seldom read beyond the headline. Have you read any of them?
Or perhaps the editors of our news sites are just trying to soften the harsh and often negative and depressing features that usually dominate the main headlines. Most days, feature stories regularly deal with political stalemates, war zone tragedies, major accidents, crime and weapon assaults, weather crises or economic downturns. These top of the page stories usually do not do much to provide a happy or positive start to the day for the morning reader. The odd and unusual features identified above may just be a buffer provided to help cushion the negativity of the main news stories. They may provide a moment of levity or just briefly distract our attention from the negative news stories.
As I reflected upon this technique of trying to ensnare the potential reader, I immediately recognized it as the same method I employ to tempt readers to read my blogs! Toss out an enticing question and hope that it might stimulate my two readers to want to find out more. I am not sure if it is the riveting question or the sheer brilliance of the explanation that follows, that keep my readers begging for more!
I just know that the headlines above did catch my eye, and hopefully my leading questions will continue to catch yours!
Ken,
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to interact with the real world and, as I look out the window at Pet Day and wonder if this will lead to better numeracy, I think perhaps I'm better suited to reading stories about baby sting rays raised in sandwich bags. I want to live in a sandwich bag too.
Unless one's disabled the dozens of trackers on their e-devises, a single click on a lead line of yellow, tablet journalism rags has the same effect as flypaper. Full of cookies and infected with analytics and viruses—thought viruses spread by cultural transmission that leave human brains unable to comprehend the writings of Richard Dawkins, yet become stimulated by videos gone viral. Sick.
ReplyDelete