Headlines in this economy
March 21st, 2009 // 8:52 pm @ admin
Media’s false reporting is hyping the downturn of the economy…
This morning I picked up a copy of my local paper on our driveway and as I was walking back to the house I quickly glanced at the main headline on its front page. It read:
Farewell, Foodville, Grocer closes its doors after 68 years in San Carlos
I thought this was really sad news. A grocery store closing its door after so many years. But I knew that this headline could not be true. You see, I knew Foodville was closing and moving to a new location for the shear purpose of expansion. So why is the media doing this? Why are they trying to create this fear? Just to have a news worthy story?
I thought maybe it was just me who was feeling this way about the headline. So I decided to test this headline. How about conducting a little focus group of my own? I was wondering what effect this headline could have in the minds of other readers.
I went into the house and immediately shared the paper with my wife. I asked her to read the headline. She read it and said, “This is really sad. Huh?” She continued, “Stores are closing one after another and companies are going bankrupt. I don’t know what the future holds for us. I am really worried.”
I work in San Carlos and pick up my lunch from Foodville several times a week. I am aware that Foodville is a family-owned store and is moving to a new location just two blocks down the street. They are closing this location which is 8,000 square feet in order to open up a much larger facility at about 20,000 square feet to offer a lot more to the community. Of course, the name of the store is changing, but that is only because the owners would like to have their family name on the store. (Bianchini’s Market)
When you read the full article it does mention the expansion and therefore change of location, but what about those of us who choose not to read any further than the headline?
I think this is a misleading headline just to create a feeling of uncertaintly and possibly fear in the mind of the reader. A lot of us just glance at the headline on the front page and flip the page without reading the entire article. This style of attention-grabbing reporting does not accurately reflect the spirit of our community and the state of economy. We already do feel the effect of the bad economy in our daily lives and I don’t think that we need to feel any worse by tricky headlines.
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