A whole load of nonsense

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Tuesday, 23 June 2009, 11:48

What makes a good headline writer? The answer, I guess, is someone who can grab a reader's attention and so convince them to read the accompanying article. However, this doesn't necessarily mean the headline reflects the content of the article.

So my attention was captured by a lead story in today's Metro. "Young voters turn to the BNP", it screamed out at me.

Startled, I read on.

However, I hadn't even finished the first sentence to find the headline was a complete exaggeration of the facts.

The poll in question actually said that support for the BNP amongst young people was at 5%. Granted this is still far too high but hardly warrants the headline the article deserved. This findings are also at odds with several other recent studies, including a YouGov poll of 32,000 votes, 16 times larger than the sample used for this research, which shows the bulk of BNP support coming from the 35-54 age group.

The headline might have caught my attention but there was no evidence within the article to warrant it.