Wednesday - August 01, 2007

Headlines

In my opinion, the headline of a story is one of the most important things to get right.  It can convey the position and sense of a story before you even begin to read.  A headline that contains a play on words, coinciding with the content is a double-header in my book.  That being said, the headline also can convey a false view into the story.  It can bias a reader or inject ideas that are irrelevant or plain wrong before the reader even beings.

Such is the headline I just came upon:

Police: Disney Employee Molested Girl For Years

What are the immediate thoughts that come into your mind when you read that headline?  I mentally composed the story in about a half second, “knowing” what the article was going to be about.  Didn’t you?

Here’s what it really says:

CLERMONT, Fla.—A 54-year-old Disney maintenance man was arrested Friday on charges of sexual battery involving a child.

Christian V. Johnson, of Clermont, was arrested after police said he molested a girl on multiple occasions from the time she was 10 to 14 years old. An 18-year-old man also told police that Johnson molested him when he was 8 years old.

According to an arrest report, Johnson told investigators he did not see anything wrong with the sexual relationship he had with the female victim. He denied touching the male victim.

Johnson worked as an electronics maintenance worker at Walt Disney World and has been placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the charges.

The allegations did not involve children Johnson met at the park.

That ticks me off.  They wait until the very last sentence to dispell the mental image they concocted with the headline.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/01/2007 at 11:27 AM   
Filed Under: • Media-Bias •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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