Vancouver Sun: Headline Writers on a Lunch Break?!
UPDATE: The Vancouver Sun agreed and corrected the headline in its second edition. See below for the update.
Let’s see if I have this straight:
- Sensational Headline: Bi-polar patients can become violent.
- Actual story: Bi-polar patients probably won’t become violent.
Come on. A little factual headline writing would be nice. In j-school, you’d get a failing mark for crap writing like this.
It’s this kind of sensationalism that continues to perpetuate the stigma behind mental health issues.
Email sent to Patricia Graham, Vancouver Sun’s Editor-in-Chief:
Hi Patricia,
I was disturbed to see your paper’s recent headline:
“Bi-polar patients can become violent, prof says.”
What disturbed me was not the headline, but that the article, just three paragraphs in, counters the headline:
“Often there is stubbornness and inability to cooperate, but that doesn’t mean the patient will become violent.”
Which is the truth? Clearly, the latter.
People skimming headlines — as is increasingly the case in a digital news world — will come away with an inaccurate sense of the reality here.
Will the Vancouver Sun publish a correction?
Tod
Her response (which was refreshingly quick):
I agree with you about this headline. It appeared in our first (early) edition only, and was caught and corrected for the second edition. The revised headline says:
“Bipolar patients rarely become violent, prof says”.
This was an unfortunate error; the second edition goes to the majority of our readers, but Vancouver Island and rural areas would have got the first edition.
Patricia
View Comments
June 30th, 2010
Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline just adds to mental health stigma: http://todmaff.in/vansunfail #bipolar
June 30th, 2010
RT @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline just adds to mental health stigma: http://todmaff.in/vansunfail #bipolar
June 30th, 2010
That's SO the Sun Media Corp. A man has two bananas, one gets lost the Sun will report people are losing half their bananas… slightly inappropriate example, but I'm glad you're using your high profile to demonstrate (using an excellent example) how irresponsible the media is with the information they give their audience.
June 30th, 2010
RT @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline just adds to mental health stigma: http://todmaff.in/vansunfail #bipolar
June 30th, 2010
RT @thenetworkhub @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline adds to mental health stigma: http://todmaff.in/vansunfail
June 30th, 2010
RT @thenetworkhub @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline adds to mental health stigma: http://todmaff.in/vansunfail
June 30th, 2010
@patriciagraham This @VancouverSun headline (from Canada) is an example of newspapers at their very worst. What excuse? http://ht.ly/254wv
June 30th, 2010
RT @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline just adds to mental health stigma: http://ht.ly/254ys Contact @PatriciaGraham
June 30th, 2010
RT @twitcouver: RT @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline just adds to mental health stigma: http://ht.ly/254ys Contact @PatriciaGraham
June 30th, 2010
Nice of them to encourage people to distance themselves from others. That headline is irresponsible journalism. I'm surprised to see it from the Sun, because it's typically the Province that displays sensationalist headlines (in bold face on their cover page), like “Baby beluga chokes to death.” In both cases, insensitive. I hope my good friend who is bipolar didn't have to witness that and if he did, I hope he responds with a Letter to the Editor!
June 30th, 2010
RT @twitcouver: RT @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline just adds to mental health stigma: http://ht.ly/254ys Contact @PatriciaGraham
June 30th, 2010
Vancouver Sun: Headline Writers on a Lunch Break?! – Tod Maffin: Vancouver Sun: Headline Writers on a Lunch Break?… http://bit.ly/9wkght
June 30th, 2010
RT @thenetworkhub: RT @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline just adds to mental health stigma: http://todmaff.in/vansunfail #bipolar
June 30th, 2010
RT @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline just adds to mental health stigma: http://todmaff.in/vansunfail #bipolar
June 30th, 2010
RT @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline just adds to mental health stigma: http://todmaff.in/vansunfail #bipolar
June 30th, 2010
Irresponsible journalism! RT @todmaffin: Vancouver Sun: Headline Writers on a Lunch Break?! http://todmaff.in/9cIF2q
June 30th, 2010
Fear mongers RT @todmaffin Sensational, inaccurate @VancouverSun headline adds to mental health stigma: http://todmaff.in/vansunfail #mhsm
June 30th, 2010
@todmaffin Thx for @VancouverSun headline story. Yet ANOTHER example of how media foment fear for own benefit. http://todmaff.in/vansunfail
June 30th, 2010
RT @todmaffin: Vancouver Sun: Headline Writers on a Lunch Break?! http://todmaff.in/9cIF2q
June 30th, 2010
Funny, I'd called out the Vancouver Sun earlier in the week (http://twitter.com/peechie/status/17282225634) on their shoddy & overly biased reporting when the story first came out.
The online article has since been changed (note to self, always take a screenshot), but in its original form read something very close to “Wilson and his wife gave a clue about what might have happened when they told police he suffered from bipolar disorder.”
Clearly they didn't get the message.
June 30th, 2010
To me the problem here is not even the sensationalism of the headline but the ambiguity of “facts” throughout the text. Is it, or it's not? Anyways, we all know that any human being “can” be violent anyways, so bipolar or not, the interesting thing is to read “studies and facts” about a disorder, and realize that don't even the writer knew what she wanted to say.
June 30th, 2010
Booo @VancouverSun! RT @peechie: Rt @todmaffin Inaccurate @VancouverSun headline adds to mental health stigma: http://todmaff.in/vansunfail
June 30th, 2010
@AntoniaZ Was about: @todmaffin's "Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline adds to mental health stigma http://tinyurl.com/26vferd"
June 30th, 2010
RT @todmaffin: Sensational & inaccurate @VancouverSun headline just adds to mental health #stigma http://bit.ly/cg0c85 via @thenetworkhub
June 30th, 2010
@VancouverSun corrects misleading #bi-polar headline. See http://todmaffin.com/vancouversun for the update. Thanks to @patriciagraham for…
June 30th, 2010
RT @todmaffin: @VancouverSun corrects misleading #bi-polar headline. See http://todmaffin.com/vancouversun for the update. Thanks to @patriciagraham for…
July 1st, 2010
Vancouver Sun: Headline Writers on a Lunch Break?! – UPDATE: The Vancouver Sun agreed and corrected the headline in … http://ow.ly/17WZyi
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