Star, you have some headline explaining to do

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by David Safier

Lucy_1-full It's misleading headline day at the Star again. Today, we have a twofer.

Misleading Star Headline Number One is about Obama's upcoming State of the Union Address:

Obama will have some convincing to do in address

Even if the headline didn't have that gratuitous I Love Lucy reference (Obama equals hapless, deceptive Lucy), it's a misleading characterization of the AP story it's supposed to summarize. Here's the first paragraph of the article:

Seizing a chance to reconnect, President Obama will use his first State of the Union address to try to convince the people of a frustrated nation that he's on their side, with a familiar sounding agenda recast to relate better to everyday struggles.

The Star doesn't use "reconnect" or "recast" in the headline. It rips the word "convince" out of context and puts it in a new one. The story doesn't say Obama has some convincing to do, which implies that he's screwed up and needs to convince people he didn't screw up by squirming his way out of a jam. It says he's going to use the address "to try to convince the people of a frustrated nation that he's on their side."

But don't believe me about the headline's bias. Here's every headline I could find on Google for the same AP article.

A Fox TV station and Business Week gave the story a more accurate headline than the Star.

Does the Star ever hold staffings on writing accurate headlines? Or is this intentional? Maybe the newsroom catch phrase is, "The headline leads, so make it bleed!"

For Misleading Star Headline Number Two, check out this one over a Rob O'Dell story:

Recall backers rally the signature troops

Close your eyes and imagine the scene where the "troops" are being rallied for battle, to go out there and collect signatures. For me, the headline conjures up a picture of hundreds, maybe thousands, of pumped-up Recallers. I mean, after all, the  recall group ran a full page ad in the Star this week announcing the gathering. You'd expect a huge turnout.

Eh, not so much.

Between 50 and 60 energetic supporters gathered in a ramada at the midtown park before 9 a.m. in the damp and cold to learn how to fill out the petitions to recall Republican Mayor Bob Walkup and Democratic council members Karen Uhlich and Regina Romero.

50 to 60? That's all?

The kickoff crowd included some business people, and many members of the Tucson Tea Party, some clad in their red Tea Party shirts.

How many of those 50 to 60 are either recall organizers or friends of the organizers? I'd guess 10 to 20, minimum. So now we have, maybe 30 to 40 people, tops, who actually came to the rally on their own.

That's a pretty poor showing, I'd say. How about a headline that reads, "Handful of supporters show for signature rally," or "Modest response to recall rally," or "50 attend recall kickoff rally"? For me, those do a better job of describing the nature of the assembly.

To recap, here's the World According to Star Headlines: Obama, who screwed up mightily, has some convincing to do, while An Army of recall supporters fan out all over Tucson to collect signatures.

Shouldn't the paper be embarrassed about this kind of stuff? And if not, if I'm wrong or over the top, shouldn't someone from the Star rebut what I've written here and in a few other posts about the paper's misleading headlines? Comments by reporters and editors are more than welcome at the end of the post. I never edit comments except for inappropriate content, so the Star can have its full say. Or someone can send me an email (safier@schooltales.net) to tell me how off base, or unfair, I am.

I'm one of your most loyal and thorough readers, you know. And a 7-day-a-week subscriber.

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