The Headlines Game

In a world where the newspapers business is declining at an alarming rate, an effective way of getting the public to pick newspapers or clicking on a link is by having a captivating headline. Like most of America, I fall for this technique too. We tend to skip boring and simple headlines that do not grab our attention. The headlines that readers usually skip are the ones that summarize the whole article in the headlines.

This is the type of headline that i would NOT be interested in because I can predict the whole content of the article

On the other hand, we fall for attention seeking headlines that tells a quarter of the story. A story doesn’t have to be necessarily important but a catchy headline will attract a lot of attention. The media is aware of our weaknesses and exploit it in extreme ways by printing such headlines in bold on the front page.

This headline grabs my attention because it tis about a sensitive issue and Jimmy Cater's words were taken out of context  

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this technique because its principle for a business to make profit. The only issue is when there is a bias against some ethnic groups in our society. Outside sports, most of the press time that minorities receive is often for negative acts. The mainstream media concentrates on stories that depicts minorities in a negative way. Progress has definitely been made when it comes to race relations in this country but also we cannot overlook the fact that a solid amount of bigotry and prejudice still exists amongst us. Remnants of the people who opposed the civil rights movement still exist and promote racism and division among people. A typical example of this media bias was very evident in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. The devastation made life conditions merely unbearable therefore both black and whites resorted to looting abandoned grocery stores for food and water. Unfortunately, the media singled out black as looters and white people as finders. Even though America is the most diverse country on this planet, there are certain expectations that are set for minorities in this country. The media plays to these social expectations by demonizing minority groups and by doing so, they maintain the existing social hierarchy. A constant portrayal of a state of instability and chaos among minority groups also promotes prejudice and racism.   

A headline blaming blacks for the increase in social vices and also enforcing stereotypes.