July 14, 2008, 08:14
BobHaleMisleading Headlines
Arnie remarked in another thread about newspapers forgetting to mention that the few marks given to a student for correctly spelling an obscenity on his English paper, didn't enable him to pass.
Newspapers often do their best to mislead us in this way. One newspaper last weak carried a sensationalist banner headline filling most of the front page -
GIRL KILLED BY HALF A PARACETAMOL.
I know that paracetamol is dangerous but
killed by half a tablet? Surely it's not that dangerous, is it?
In fact on reading the article she was killed by "half a tablet more than the maximum safe dose" - by sixteen and a half tablets in forty eight hours.
This is still bad. It indicates to me that caution is required, but I knew that already. Maybe the safe dosage information needs to be more prominent. Maybe the safe dosage needs to be reviewed. Nevertheless the headline is extremely misleading. Of course -
GIRL KILLED BY PARACETAMOL OVERDOSE wouldn't be anywhere near as eye-catchingly sensationalist.
July 14, 2008, 10:20
ValentineDid you see the fark.com headline yesterday:
Two swimmers dead, Juan Moore missing