This week I had the bad sense to click on this headline: "These six tragic revelations from Carly Simon’s memoir will make you ashamed to be a man (if you are a man)"
I won't link to it for reasons that will become plain below.
The article is about the troubled romantic life of Carly Simon. She wasn’t very discerning in her dating and mating habits, and she got her heart broken a few times by unscrupulous men. Big surprise, right? Perhaps she should have read some Jane Austen, or listened to her grandmother.
The story itself isn’t so bad, but the headline is ridiculous. All men are supposed to feel ashamed because some actors and musicians aren’t nice people? Seriously? What will we learn next, that circus performers move around a lot and that many people don't trust lawyers?
The headline is absurd, and almost all the comments on the article take the site to task for it.
Still, I can imagine the headline writer with his Omniture statistics and ad revenue reports in one hand, and the negative comments in the other, thinking “the joke’s on you guys.” Because no matter how much you hate click-bait headlines, they work. If you want to attract eyeballs, being angry, outrageous or salacious is the way to go.
If that's the case, how’s an honest newsman to make a living in this sort of environment? If the editors, the publishers, the advertisers and the readers don’t value honesty, integrity, fairness and truth, it seems we’ll continue to slip down this path to a place where the only thing that matters is getting the clicks — by hook or by crook. Because it works. And, you know, we have to make a living, right?
I was discussing this with my wife this morning, and she reminded me of a quote from John Adams. The situation with journalism is somewhat analogous to American politics.
Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
An unruly people requires a lot of rules to keep them in line. “Self governing” doesn’t only mean that we get to elect our representatives. It means that we govern ourselves. Self-governing people are ruled by their own internal moral compass. They're strict with themselves so somebody else doesn't have to be.
Another wise man once said this.
Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval.
Or, to put it a little closer to home, if you're afraid of speed cameras, stop speeding. Govern yourself, and somebody else won't have to govern you.
The same concept seems to apply to the press. Click-bait headlines work because we click on them. Cut it out.
It's not just a matter of annoyance. This is a moral issue. These headlines lie. They deceive. They misrepresent.
In this case it’s fair to call whatever revenue you get from this garbage “filthy lucre.”
If click bait headlines offend you (and they should), you should be putting pressure on the companies that profit from them. Don’t do business with them. Don't even view their pages.
But that’s not nearly enough to turn the tide. If we want honest journalism, we need an honest population that (1) knows better than to be fooled by this nonsense, (2) is disgusted by it, and (3) has the self control to keep away from it (no matter how tasty the little morsel appears).
We need people who insist on honesty and fairness in their news, and who are willing to govern themselves accordingly — by refusing to visit sites that use these cheap tactics.
And if any of my readers are in the business of making web browsers, or browser plugins, here's an idea for you. Add a function that allows the user to mark a site as a click-bait offender. Then, whenever the user accidentally navigates to that same site, display a message, like "You've labeled this as a site that uses click-bait headlines. Do you want to reward their bad business practices?"