Paraphrasing in news headlines
Discussion
A friend and I have been recently discussing what can only be described as the misuse of paraphrasing in news headlines. Both of us have in the past but no longer work for daily newspapers.
We think it's lazy and tacky. Sometimes the words are not even from a quote, or the quote is so paraphrased down to one or two words, but it's as if the reporting news source doesn't want to report it as theirs on purpose. Other times it's just plain unnecessary and the headline would read correctly without it! Either way it makes it hard to discern whether the headline represents the article or not so it ends up telling you less about the article.
It seems to be mostly a web thing where the headlines are not subjected to as much scrutiny as the paper edition. Although sometimes it's seen in the paper editions too.
The BBC seems to be quite a big offender. I've provided a snapshot of the BBC site a little earlier just in case you hadn't yet noticed how prominent it is.
I don't remember it being like this in the past so I'll presume it's a modern web thing, driven by short headlines, SEO and the ability to change the headline on the fly as the story develops.
We think it's lazy and tacky. Sometimes the words are not even from a quote, or the quote is so paraphrased down to one or two words, but it's as if the reporting news source doesn't want to report it as theirs on purpose. Other times it's just plain unnecessary and the headline would read correctly without it! Either way it makes it hard to discern whether the headline represents the article or not so it ends up telling you less about the article.
It seems to be mostly a web thing where the headlines are not subjected to as much scrutiny as the paper edition. Although sometimes it's seen in the paper editions too.
The BBC seems to be quite a big offender. I've provided a snapshot of the BBC site a little earlier just in case you hadn't yet noticed how prominent it is.
I don't remember it being like this in the past so I'll presume it's a modern web thing, driven by short headlines, SEO and the ability to change the headline on the fly as the story develops.
zac510 said:
I don't remember it being like this in the past so I'll presume it's a modern web thing, driven by short headlines, SEO and the ability to change the headline on the fly as the story develops.
I think these are fair points. I would also propose that it is in part because we are gradually being indoctrinated to accept quantity over quality. The BBC is a prime culprit; the quality of journalism, including quite pathetic grammar, proof-reading and accuracy errors, has been on the decline for a few years now. However many people seem to accept that we are given poor content in exchange for being given it quickly. Personally I would rather wait for some in-depth information than to get a brief piece moments after the event; that is what Twitter is for. 
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