All about the headlines

Khairy Jamaluddin

RECENTLY on bbc.com, there was a story about Russian news website, The City Reporter, which decided to publish only ‘good news’ for one day. Thus, on 1 December the website carried only positive headlines such as “No disruption on the roads despite snow”. 

The result? Catastrophic. The website lost about two-thirds of its readership that day. According to its deputy editor Viktoriya Nekrasova on Facebook, “… it looks like nobody needs them (the good news). That’s the trouble”. The next day they returned to news of car crashes and burst water pipes. 

While a day’s experimentation cannot be said to be conclusive proof of readership habits, it does reveal an inherent attraction towards more ‘sensational’ headlines involving crime, politics, accidents and the like. 

Similarly, in September, there was a Huffington Post article titled “How the Malaysians Used a Skyscraper to Fool the World”. The article went viral with more than  6400 Facebook likes and 1200 Facebook shares (not including unofficial shares and readership).

What was interesting about the article was that the author admitted to only being in Malaysia for one day. Yep, one day. Yet, the headline would have given you the impression that there was in-depth research, maybe interviews or even visits to one of the other 13 states. Don’t get me wrong. The author raises fair points on  Kuala Lumpur’s public transportation system (which is a concern for many of us), the nation’s debt (an issue faced by many other nations) and speaks of what Malaysia has to do moving forward. However, it certainly didn’t merit the dramatic (and somewhat misleading) headline.  

Closer to home, most of us are aware of Khairy Jamaluddin, the Minister of Youths and Sports and Umno Youth Chief’s rant against certain media outlets as well as social media users for selectively highlighting his speech at the recent Umno Annual General Assembly (AGM) through sensationalist  headlines which portrayed him in a negative and racist light. 

On my Facebook Newsfeed, many shared the news with statements of disbelief (and horror!) that such words were uttered by the young minister. “I have lost faith in him” one user said, “Cant believe it!” expressed another. 

Yet lo and behold, a few days later another news portal released a good story titled “Umno Assembly Speech Transcripts Show Khairy Taken Out of Context”.  

Despite the later article acting as check and balance against the earlier ones, damage was done. Not everyone would have read the later article (there were certainly less Facebook shares –probably also due to it being published only in English), and the negative (and imprecise) portrayal would been set. 

So, the question that beckons is ‘how is a headline determined? And why’? I don’t suppose there’s an exact science to it, but the traditional answer would be ‘whatever sells the newspapers’ or in today’s day and age of free online media, ‘whatever sells advertising’. 

Going through some of the front-page headlines from both print and online news portals, it’s hard to pinpoint how this works. For instance, about 2 weeks ago on Friday, the front-page headlines ranged from “Sedition Act Stays” (popular with most) to “Bridal Seat of Tears” (only 1 daily), and from “PM’s sedition Act U-Turn cowardly” to “No smoking? But I’m a Datuk and He’s a Tan Sri”. On another day, there was “We Need Each Other” and “A Strong Front” (both in relation to the Umno AGM), as well as “Bloody Floor” (again, that 1 daily), and “What is Umno's aim? Build Bridges or Walls?”, “The reality of Malaysia’s economic policies” and “Kelantan introduces same-sex audience ruling for state-organised sporting events”. 

An observation of the headlines would indicate a few interesting things: Print newspapers were more likely to cover positive stories in their front-page headlines. I felt less ‘grief’ when looking at the front page of print newspapers throughout the week as opposed to online news portals which more often have me muttering ‘tsk’. Print headlines tend to be more descriptive as opposed to online news headlines which were more analytical (often intellectually stimulating and opiniated). Print newspapers would keep their headlines more direct and casual whereas online news headlines were at times more provocative and sensational - though sometimes the headline and the story didn’t fit. Perhaps owing to the easily editable nature of online media, headlines tend to ‘evolve’ as news developed – this phenomena I find interesting, because I have come across articles that claim ‘Facts A’ early in the day only to then disappear in place of ‘Facts B’ come evening.

Diversity aside, the headlines clearly go beyond sales and are very much about leaving impressions within the minds of the readers, moulding public perception and sentiment, as well as creating a media moderated-reality.

This in turn influences how we conduct our lives, the places we go, the things we buy, our politics and our belief systems. 

Traditionally, media moderated reality was balanced by our senses-lead reality (i.e. what we see, feel, smell, and experience). However, with more and more of our time spent online, that natural balance will slowly erode, giving greater prominence to a media-moderated reality. 

In the long run, I feel that it’ll be unhealthy if we relied too much on the headlines. We really do need to take a step back and apply a pinch of salt whenever we see a sensational headline (more salt for some) and at the very least read the article in full before taking whatever next step is available to us (be it Facebook liking, sharing, or tweeting).  

As my friend Nelza (who I thank for helping me with this article) puts it “In these modern days, readers should be capable of being meticulous. Falling for sensational headlines without any intellectual and analytical judgement may help viralize false information which could then lead to deteriorating consequences for the people, and the country’s peace and stability”. 

Admittedly, I too am guilty of headline-hunting. After all, what motivated me to read the article about the Russian news website was “Good news day decimates website's readership”. Decimates.

> The views expressed are entirely the writer's own.