A tale of two headlines

R

Ricardodaforce

Self requested ban
Suspended / Banned
Messages
18,340
Edit My Images
No
I was just flicking through the news on the BBC site and saw this tragic story:

Bull gores German cyclist to death in southern France

An escaped bull has gored a German cyclist to death and injured his wife on a road in the Camargue region of southern France, in a rare attack.

The couple were passing a farm near Mejane when fighting broke out among several bulls inside an enclosure and one of the animals broke out.

The animal, a fighting bull, first attacked the wife during Monday's attack, according to French newspaper La Provence.

Then the husband, who was 54, was gored some 20 times, the paper said.

A truly horrific was to die.

At the end of the article are two links to the same story on other sites. One being the Daily Heil, the other being Metro.

What got my attention was the headline of the story on the DM site.

German cyclist gored to death after fighting bull trained to take on matadors escapes from enclosure

I think the BBC summed it up perfectly. The DM version looks like someone decided it needed to be cranked up to 11!
 
Just seems the DM stated the obvious. No harm in that.
 
To be (and this will hurt me as much as it hurts you!) fair to the DM, the extras it's added to the headline (if true) could help explain why the bull attacked the people. Maybe a case of the BBC turning it down to 8 rather than the Mail cranking it up?
 
nilagin said:
Just seems the DM stated the obvious. No harm in that.
Click to expand...

It's that old thing about loading the reader's mind based on their opinions, predjudices and general thought process.

The red tops and the DM excel at playing on how their general readers think, hence why the stories they run are geared towards certain aspects of a story. It's the same with the more' intelligent' papers like the FT and Guardian - they have avery different way of telling the same stories, hence why it probably attracts a much different type of reader.

The BBC generally keeps things very obvious, non-opinionated and its headlines un-loaded, probably because it's paid for by the tax payer, and has to deliver news with as little opinion as possible to keep it appearing neutral.
 
I always said Ape hangers were better on a bike than Bull horns.
 
specialman said:
It's that old thing about loading the reader's mind based on their opinions, predjudices and general thought process.

The red tops and the DM excel at playing on how their general readers think, hence why the stories they run are geared towards certain aspects of a story. It's the same with the more' intelligent' papers like the FT and Guardian - they have avery different way of telling the same stories, hence why it probably attracts a much different type of reader.

The BBC generally keeps things very obvious, non-opinionated and its headlines un-loaded, probably because it's paid for by the tax payer, and has to deliver news with as little opinion as possible to keep it appearing neutral.
Click to expand...

I don't read newspapers and my initial thought after reading the BBC headline and report was as the DM had it.
 
nilagin said:
I don't read newspapers and my initial thought after reading the BBC headline and report was as the DM had it.
Click to expand...

I don't read newspapers very often, just making a general observation about how editorial is geared to specific readers.

What I will say about that DM headline is that it's an appalling example of editorial style.... Headlines should be short, succinct, quick to read.... The DM has made a habit of totally disregarding this on its online version. Its bad editing.
 
Last edited:
specialman said:
I don't read newspapers very often, just making a general observation about how editorial is geared to specific readers. What I will say about that DM headline is that it's an appalling example of editorial style.... Headlines should be short, succinct, quick to read.... The DM has made a habit of totally disregarding this on its online version. Its bad editing.
Click to expand...

My point exactly! Maybe because I used to publish magazines I notice these things more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top