During the “Golden Age” of newspapers, there was a “Golden Rule” for story placement on the front page. This was particularly true on “slow-news” days. “If it bleeds, it leads.”
While that phrase was first formalized in 1989, every newspaper editor knew that as a truth long before then, just as advertising people knew that “sex sells.” In the current time of digital delivery of news we call the practice used to increase web site traffic “click-bait.”
Another rule in newspaper journalism stretches back much farther to Alfred Harmsworth, British newspaper and publishing magnate, owner of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. Harmsworth is credited with being the “Father of Popular Journalism,” meaning providing news and stories for the working class. He figured the average person really was not all that interested in “the news” but also wanted something sensational to read about. Not much has changed in the past 100 years.
An unspoken newspaper rule was credited to Charles Anderson Dana who was the aide to Horace Greeley, managing editor of the powerful New York Tribune. Dana was once asked, “What constitutes news?” He replied: “If you should see a dog biting a man, don’t write it up. But if you should see a man biting a dog, spare not money, men nor telegraph charges to get the details to my office.”
Headline writers have probably used “Man Bites Dog” to get clicks on a story about a sausage-eating contest. “Man Bites Hot Dog” is not very exciting.
Part of the problem is that people have a short attention span. According to a study by Microsoft, the average human being now has an attention span of eight seconds. That number is probably not accurate since the average time spent on “Porn Hub” is 10 minutes. Actually, Filipinos and Thais spend more than 11 minutes. But rarely will you find an outline article that takes more than five minutes to read, with many web sites telling the viewer how long it will take to read an article.
However, the average person can be fooled into believing almost anything with a headline and an incomplete first paragraph. Nobody seems to want to know the details. For example; “SWS July Survey: Adult joblessness rises to record-high 45.5 percent.”
All true but the overwhelming majority will spend their eight seconds on the headline and maybe two paragraphs. The details are more important. The previous high reading was in March 2012 at 34.4 percent. But you have to read the total nine paragraphs to learn that 21 percent lost their jobs before the Covid-19 quarantine and 21 percent since. Therefore, without Covid, unemployment is not at a record.
That is no help to those without jobs, but from a public policy standpoint it is critical. Where can efforts be focused to get that quarantine-affected 21 percent back to work? Is it construction related, manufacturing, or services sector? Can specific quarantine rules, including for transportation, be targeted at employees and businesses in construction, for example?
It is estimated that 8 million Filipinos are employed in the tourism sector. While international tourism is probably dead for the next 12 months, how many will come back to work on domestic tourism alone and how can government help?
An informed and thinking public is the greatest weapon of democracy, not just a whining and complaining public. Use your attention span wisely. The nation needs it.
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