THE PROFIT ANGLE

For Article: Obama Wins in U.K. Headlines
Posted by Jane Abao 1/10/2008 8:04:39 PM

Yes, credibility is that important for any news system. But what obtains is that as though being first in the race to report is all there is to it. I had the experience of trying to buy a broad sheet one morning on my way to the city. I saw some of them displayed at one corner, and when I glanced at the headlines, they appeared engaged in a debate of sorts.

It is not only in names that newspapers struggle to get ahead and report, and then fail to make the mark when after a few hours, the day exposes them as guessing. It is also in numbers, but with this kind, they seem not to care enough. Why? Because the customer of the day might think the one with the greatest number may have covered the latest of the event.

There was a case of a tsunami that occurred south of my country not many years ago. One broadsheet stood out from among the rest for reporting the greatest number of fatalities. It was not my favorite paper, but thinking that it may have the latest accounts and the most details, I bought the paper. Tsunami and its effects stretches for weeks, even months, and so with its news coverage. Later on, I found out that this paper has the habit of bloating figures whenever there are events of this kind.

You bet, customers will find out about the truth later on – about the profit angle – after comparing news from other sources and after a time of dealing with these news systems.