Saturday, October 18, 2008

What's Wrong with this AP title?

What's wrong with the title of this story:
McCain Criticizes Obama's Promise of Tax Cuts

McCain: "Criticizes"
Obama: "Promises Tax Cuts"

What if the article were titled,

"McCain expresses doubts about Obama's promise of tax cuts" -- relatively neutral


"McCain raises doubts about Obama's tax-cut promise" -- slightly more positive about McCain, slightly more negative about Obama

"McCain exposes leaks in Obama's tax-cut promise" -- strongly positive of McCain and more negative about Obama.


The problem is that many people only read headlines and not the content. And organizations like the AP are deliberately choosing words in the headlines to give readers a positive feeling about Obama and a negative feeling about McCain.

That is a very powerful and very subtle type of ongoing manipulation that America's voters are faced with.

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