2d ago

Anybody else annoyed by news headlines being predominantly clickbaity now?

Typical pattern: "Scientists find something strange when they look at a common whatever - and it's not good!"

This kind of crap used to be the style of little blurbs at the side or the bottom of an article, but it's in the headlines now. Until you click the headline you don't even really know what the article is about anymore - just the general topic area, with maybe a fear trigger.

Clicking on the headline is going to display ads, but at that point the goal isn't to get you to buy anything yet, it's just to generate ad impressions, which the content provider gets paid for regardless of whether you even see the ads. It's a weird meta-revenue created by the delivery mechanism, and it has altered the substance of headlines, and our expectations of what "headline" even means.

72 comments

I don’t really mind clickbaity headlines, but I’m getting real tired of LIVE headlines, where instead of writing a story they just do Mastodon-style live reactions, like me getting pissed and watching Eurovision.

omg do i hate that. especial those commentators who want to claim something was politically devastating when we all know no one gave a shit.

Tell your friends and family not to fall for it then. Ad dicks will come up with something new and equally horrible.

That's why I stopped reading the news. Instead I get my news here and I have to interpret what they mean for me locally. Its extremely bullshit. Now orange man has bit into NPR and PBS. When that institution disappears, I won't have a leg to stand on. I'll be a mindless robot going to work. Suddenly they come and tag one of my balls with a chip because they said they would but nobody was there to tell us.

Profit above all. Been this way for a long long time.

"news headlines" should be "opinion headlines". I'm going back to Jack Webb from Dragnet..."Just the facts, ma'am.".

want to read news
don't want to pay for news
news start to use ads to get money
ads pay for clicks
complain about clickbait news
-- average internet user
- I pay for two news subscriptions, and I’d like into invite any of y’all who can afford to, to do similar
- And that's exactly why I read German news only, they are paid with tax money and there's a governing body in place that ensures objectivity.
  Of course there are private magazines and stuff, but as long as you stay clear of them, you're by and large good to go.

For quite a while, yes.
Anytime I see headlines that say "you won't guess what's next!" "you won't believe this!" or any other variation is a immediate avoid.
I think Lemmy owes itself a savedyouaclick instance.

While we're at it, does anyone on Lemmy hate capitalism? I never see anyone mention it.
And that Trump guy is really not turning out well.
- I don't hate it, but it's been allowed to go uncontrolled for too long and it has become cancerous to the successful advancement of society.
  
  Hey does anyone else on Lemmy hate Puppy Kickers?
  I think they suck but just curious if anyone else felt that way
- Iconoclast!

Lemmy user SLAMS mainstream media, you will not believe what the comment section said
- OP is on BLAST after reading this one comment.
  
  SHOCK reaction as bait comment fallout nixes OP campaign success chances, experts warn.
- slam
  
  Da dah dah
  
  and welcome to the JAM!

Yeah I made c/savedyouaclick in the hope of getting people de-clickbaiting stories, but I was the only poster afaict. I wonder if calling it newssummararies could help.
- !savedyouaclick@lemmy.world
- Oh I'd be up to help if I could
  Maybe a link or two a day
  
  I'll also contribute a wank or two a day.
- It could be worth posting about it in !communitypromo@lemmy.ca and !newcommunities@lemmy.world
- Nah that community name is fine, it just needs to be promoted. Someone else linked some communities where it can be advertised.
- How do you "do" c/savedyouaclick? I've summarized links in a comment before, but I don't know what would be the point of also mentioning c/savedyouaclick when I do that.
  
  See the existing posts there, I guess, or look at the reddit version. I agree that there's not much point in cross linking it unless there's a significant discussion thread for that post. But reddit got those sometimes.

Whenever people ask this question, I do this one thing.

I don't click those any more. I assume they're completely written by AI and not fact-checked in any way. They just suck knowledge out of me instead of adding more.
- Exactly. If the headline is garbage, I assume the story is, too. Real journalism that’s worth reading doesn’t need to resort to clickbait.

Well played. You got me to click.

No other choice than sticking with the few reputable media that still don't do that. Gotta support them so they don't fall into that too.
- Sometimes the articles themselves are fine, and it’s just the editorial department that adds the sensational headlines. I don’t know if it’s worth throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
  
  If the marketing has the power to go over the journalism to change the titles, isn't it a symptom that things are going downward for this media?

There’s something I hate more than clickbaity headlines, click here to find out!!

MAN THREATENS TO NOT READ NEWS ANYMORE over clickbaity headlines

NPR and the BBC still aren't doing that.
- I think the Associated Press is in the clear here.
  Seems Reuters so far is good too.
  And The Guardian
  Mother Jones
  ProPublica
  Ars Technica for tech news
  The Conversation (always written by subject-matter experts)
  Deutsche Welle
  Etc.
  Thankfully there are still a lot of amazing news sources that have held onto their integrity. Click here to see even more. Number 17 will surprise you!
  
  That's a very good list. I just threw out the first couple that came to mind, but it is worth calling out the organizations that are still trying to do real journalism.
  I give small sustaining donations to NPR, ProPublica, and The Guardian. I hope to add a few more when I can.

I hate them. I hate that everything is always trying to sell you something or trick you into generating profit somehow. It makes me want to burn down a bank.

it's infuriating
- Readers hate this one simple trick -- Do this every day!

It’s the news that Starship Troopers and Idiocracy both parodied. Except it’s not future fantasy, it’s real and here now.

I'm not annoyed by them (I simply don't read them, why would I want to waste my time?), I'm saddened by them.
Edit: that's also the reason why I read so few newspapers/periodicals. And why I pay for them. I want to support quality work.

I miss objective news in general
Everything has a spin on it, even if it's subtle

It’s not new, it’s just adapted to the media format.
Getting people to read the news and the ads between articles is how the game is designed.
Journalism classes has always educated this.
- If you had been an adult during a decade or two before the Internet you would know that a headline used to sum up the basics of a story. For example, picking a random 1980s headline: "Six US embassy aides escape from Iran". Nowadays that would be more like, "US admits Iran plot."
  
  I took some journalism classes in the 90’s (and then decided it wasn’t for me), and my SO was a journalist around the same time.

Everybody has always been annoyed by them. Since before computers existed; newspaper headlines were the original clickbait and it's always sucked.

Could have social media websites --- like us --- have some system for selecting, maybe voting on, alternative titles.
- Nice idea - I remember on reddit some subs had a rule that required exact source headlines only, no user-written version. Lemmy doesn't seem to have that restriction.
  
  !News@lemmy.world is very similar on that rule. I don't like it because I've had many links removed when I wanted to give a bit more context or the title is total click bait.

I'm less annoyed if its technically true and I get to sharpen my media crit skills by making that evaluation after the fact

Yes, but this has been the case for many years now.

It was wild for a while, then scaled back and not it's re-emerging with a vengance. It's really annoying, and it's spreading to social media. It was getting crazy on reddit, where people have gone back to literally ending titles with "And then this happened"(actually using the word "this" instead of a real descriptor).

I dont click on them. Unfortunately rss is going in the same direction

If you think that's bad, wait until I tell you one obscure detail about this common thing! But first, let me tell you about Raid Shadow Legends...

Newspapers used to be displayed in boxes, and available for sale almost vending machine-style.
I imagine headlines were "buy-bait" back then. But maybe they weren't quite as good at it, since it hadn't been studied as much?

For the past 10 years

No, it is only you who are annoyed at this.
/s 😁

I despise it. It's everywhere.
It's even like that in our public service media in my country, which is tax-funded and does not need to generate clicks at all. There are no ads embedded in their articles or anything. They have no reason at all to bait.
Yet they do. It's like it's getting taught at journalism school or wherever the fuck they go before starting their career in baiting.
Master baiters are what they are. Absolute masters.

News headlines have gotten more clickbaity. Here's why.

"Universe rotates every 500 billion years"
Source: labrudirudikudi.au.net.eu

Miss my old school local news "If it bleeds, it leads" coverage.
Now all the news is Woke.

72 comments