The Washington Post planned to endorse Kamala Harris over Donald Trump before owner Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, decided against it, the newspaper reported.
I’ll be honest, the first few words of the title had me thinking this was going to be about murder. I get it now, but I still think it’s a strange use of the word kill.
Extremely common term in this industry. “Killing” a story means shelving it. You’d be very familiar with the term if you followed some of trump’s many criminal trials. He famously colluded with the person that ran a prominent supermarket tabloid paper in America to “catch and kill” any story about him that was embarrassing and potentially harmful.
Was an important part of the trial where he defrauded a porn star, who he had to bribe with $130,000 for her to have unprotected sex with him while his third wife was at home after just giving birth to his 5th child with 3 different women (at least one divorce prior in some part due to trump violently beating his wife). After not paying her for a long time and sensing the liability he committed multiple frauds with his market to get her a check to try to secure her silence close to the first election.
My initial reaction was to the specific past tense use of “killed”. My brain just immediately thought of ways to finish that sentence that would be more entertaining than actual title. For example : Jeff Bezos killed by Orca in Dramatic Yacht sinking.
Could they have written the headline, “Washington Post Endorsement Killed by Bezos”?
Sure. But tradition dictates you lead with the person. People are interested in people.
You are right. It is click-baity, but that’s because it is a newspaper headline and all newspaper headlines are “click bait”. They literally invented it. That’s why we have headlines. Often in bold and large type.
I disagree that this is misleading though, especially if you expect folk to read the whole sentence.
“Jeff Bezos shut down Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris, paper reports” is that better? Now can you talk about the fucked up topic of the rich controlling media instead of the wording of a title ffs?
I noticed you haven’t commented on the post in any other capacity. You’re welcome to do so. I was just responding to the fact that it is wild to read “Jeff Bezos killed…” as the beginning of a headline when I woke up in the morning.
I’ll be honest, the first few words of the title had me thinking this was going to be about murder. I get it now, but I still think it’s a strange use of the word kill.
Extremely common term in this industry. “Killing” a story means shelving it. You’d be very familiar with the term if you followed some of trump’s many criminal trials. He famously colluded with the person that ran a prominent supermarket tabloid paper in America to “catch and kill” any story about him that was embarrassing and potentially harmful.
Was an important part of the trial where he defrauded a porn star, who he had to bribe with $130,000 for her to have unprotected sex with him while his third wife was at home after just giving birth to his 5th child with 3 different women (at least one divorce prior in some part due to trump violently beating his wife). After not paying her for a long time and sensing the liability he committed multiple frauds with his market to get her a check to try to secure her silence close to the first election.
My initial reaction was to the specific past tense use of “killed”. My brain just immediately thought of ways to finish that sentence that would be more entertaining than actual title. For example : Jeff Bezos killed by Orca in Dramatic Yacht sinking.
Obviously done as bait. Fuck them, no click.
I think it is traditional newspaper language.
For instance to “kill a story” or “catch and kill”.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_and_kill
I think they expect most people to get that.
That is not the same as “[name] killed”.
It sort of is.
He used his executive position to kill the story.
Could they have written the headline, “Washington Post Endorsement Killed by Bezos”?
Sure. But tradition dictates you lead with the person. People are interested in people.
You are right. It is click-baity, but that’s because it is a newspaper headline and all newspaper headlines are “click bait”. They literally invented it. That’s why we have headlines. Often in bold and large type.
I disagree that this is misleading though, especially if you expect folk to read the whole sentence.
Who do you imagine killed the story then?
You’re right and that’s not what’s written there. It is “killed [object/action]” i.e. the endorsement.
To me this thread sounds more like ragebait than the original title.
“Jeff Bezos shut down Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris, paper reports” is that better? Now can you talk about the fucked up topic of the rich controlling media instead of the wording of a title ffs?
I noticed you haven’t commented on the post in any other capacity. You’re welcome to do so. I was just responding to the fact that it is wild to read “Jeff Bezos killed…” as the beginning of a headline when I woke up in the morning.