About Turning Heads
Media soft pedaling the truth with headlines that do not accurately reflect what their stories describe only benefits those who are already powerful.
Turning Heads is a media criticism newsletter about fixing headlines, which may seem like a relatively meaningless endeavor in the midst of all that the world is experiencing at the moment. But facts still matter, even if way too many people on this planet seem to prefer to ignore reality and try to exist in their own separate, more comfortable version.
Similarly, many, if not most, folks just scan the headlines, and perhaps get to the subheads of online stories. On top of that, many choose only the sources that reinforce their world views.
Fairness and accuracy in headlines is perhaps more important now than ever.
The challenge today is that way too many headlines downplay the reality of the news reported in those stories. It’s as if the headline writers — rarely the reporters who wrote the stories — are afraid of offending someone or of being sued. Perhaps they are afraid of being accused of bias?
It almost doesn’t matter. The headline is supposed to introduce the topic of the story, describe it briefly, hopefully in an engaging way that prompts the readers to want to read the story.
Why I ignore Fox “News” and why you should, too
There are many reasons, but the most important one is this: it’s not a legitimate news organization.
The vast majority of journalists see their profession as a calling and/or a public service. Most work for organizations dedicated to trying hard to find the truth and share what they learn with the public. Some news outlets, of course, are better at this than others.
But Fox was started by a political consultant with an aim to shape the news to conservative audiences, purportedly to balance mainstream media, which is viewed by the right wing as having a liberal bias. The objective at Fox is to slant the news to the preferences of its audience.
At Fox, the truth rarely gets in the way of a story, hence my use of quotation marks around the “news” portion of their name. If news about what’s really going on is what you’re after, go elsewhere. And don’t use social media like Facebook to get your news.
I encourage you to avoid network and cable news, and to instead read the Guardian, the Associated Press, ProPublica, France24 (in English) to get a foreign perspective, and Democracy Now. After reading these for several days or weeks, go take a look at the headlines on Fox and perhaps you’ll see the difference.
About me
Hey there. I’m Jeff Ballinger, a writer and communications consultant who lives in Paris and loves to ride bicycles. I have been a journalist most of my career, working in California, Vermont and more recently online from home.
I first came to Paris in 1997 on my honeymoon, a few weeks after riding in the 575-mile, week-long California AIDS Ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. I’ve had a passion for bikes for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Southern California and rode my Schwinn Stingray pretty much everywhere I went: to school, to piano lessons, to wherever it was I was meeting my friends. I rode to school well in high school and college, too. Then and now, cycling creates freedom.
Twenty years after my first trip in Paris, I moved here with my wife, Mary Schiller. Within a few months, I started the Paris Cycling B-Group on MeetUp as a way to find others with which to share this passion. It was also a way to find other people who were more interested in the experience of the ride itself than in how fast they can go.
I work for myself now, mostly as a communications consultant in higher education. And, of course, I write this blog.
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