Dear Huffington Post, About That Headline

Yesterday was a pretty big day. The lives of two amazing journalists were saved, their families spared more emotional agony. It all started, as the New York Times reported it, after being arrested on March 17 near the North Korean border with China while reporting on human trafficking for Current TV. But yesterday, Laura Ling and Euna Lee were rescued by former President Bill Clinton in a feat of diplomatic aplomb that left anyone with a heart teary eyed and choked up, and a nation very grateful.

However, instead of blasting a headline of jubilation, someone inside Huffington Post decided to take the road down Clinton Derangement Highway, choosing the headline you see at the top of this post.

What were you thinking?

Being privileged enough to contribute here, frankly, I was appalled. I wasn't alone, as you no doubt saw in your own comment section.

So, since someone missed it, let me tell you how something like this actually works. In order to pull the whole thing off and make sure Bill Clinton went over there, got the pardon, then got home with both reporters quickly and before something went wrong, the Obama administration had to keep the political away from the humanitarian, you know, in case something actually did go wrong, creating an international incident. I'm sorry if this sounds like a lecture, as well as for those at Huffington Post who were as horrified as I was, but somebody obviously missed the whole point of no one in the Administration going. And by the way, Secretary Clinton certainly couldn't have gone, as it would have put Obama's foreign policy on North Korea in a ringer, which was the whole point in having someone neutral and outside the Administration involved. The other issue being that the North Koreans actually wanted Bill Clinton, because he's a former president and a political rock star across the globe.

I shouldn't have to tell you all this. You all are way too smart.

I also shouldn't have to tell you that running a headline blaring "BILL UPSTAGES HILLARY.... ONCE AGAIN" on a day two journalists lives were saved from doing twelve years hard labor in a North Korean prison camp made Huffington Post look silly. Petty. Small.

You screwed up.

- Taylor Marsh, with podcasts available on ITunes.

Follow Taylor Marsh on Twitter: www.twitter.com/taylormarsh

Comments

[anniecanuck]

Thanks for this.
i felt the same way about the headline.
Lazy and neither clever nor true.

[Justanyname]

Agreed! That headline completely missed the story as well as the international diplomacy and politics, and stated a controversy that does not exist. Unfortunately, such headlines are not exactly rare on HuffPost.

[lynninny]

ditto.

[InternationalObserver]

Like others, I'm with you on this one. But as a siide-bar, I'd like it noted that your criticism only gets published because you are a HuffPo blogger. The rest of us get 'moderated'. I've been with HuffPo since Day 1 and I find it a great news/opinion aggregator. It appeals to me liberal sentiments.

But the only time my comments don't seem to get posted is when I'm criticising Huffpo for something. Calm, reasoned, crticism ... but not welcome, evidently.

[littleolwinemakerme]

My thoughts exactly, thanks Taylor

[NotStarvingArtist]

Yes, I read Huffington Post every day, and for the most part, I am happy with the quality of news I get on this site. However, I am often disappointed by the headlines. If I click on a headline and the article has little or nothing to do with the headline, my time has been wasted. This happens far too often. Sensational headlines may draw in readers, but if you then disappoint those readers often enough, you may lose them forever. Are you listening, Huffington Post?

[1dogs2]

Bingo!

This is hardly the first time that HuffPo has put up false, misleading, tasteless or just plain ignorant headlines that misrepresent the gist of the story below the headline. It happens on a daily basis and diminishes the quality and reputation of the site as surely as the inconsistent moderation of comments does.

[msbeal]

I was just breezing though some of the commenters on Salon.com and I'm hear to tell you that HuffPost commenters are vastly more mature and intelligent.

Tone the yellow press headlines down. Keep it aimed at the your high caliper readers and commenters.

[annefuller02]

Amen!

[Viola]

I agree. I love Huffpost and I love Arianna - BUT! - whatever problem she has with Hillary, get over it! The headline removed a lot of pleasure from what should have been a straightforwardly joyous story. We get plenty of bad news all day long, we don't need good news to be damaged. Stop it!

[Jamie Frevele - Huffpost Blogger]

Another concurrence. This was a wonderful victory for the two freed journalists, and to make the headline about Bill and Hillary and gender roles...well, that's so two thousand and LATE.

[FawkesNews]

Perhaps a 100 or so of us commented on our displeasure with that headline, but HuffPo kept it up there.

Shame.

[Derelict outlaw]

I miss journalism.

[offred]

On the nose!

[mredder4]

You can see in the staff area that this site hires a lot of young editors. This naturally lends itself to behavior that falls under the "Should Have Known Better" category. And the bottom line is that while this may be a labor of love for Arianna Huffington, it's still a business tasked with being profitable. Profits require advertisers, and advertisers require audiences. Audiences want sensational headlines, so the Huffington Post serves them up with gusto. It's a somewhat recent addition to the Politics area, but has been true of Enterainment, Living, and Style for years.

It's so sad to this reader that the site panders to such a low common denominator. Instead of standing out as one of the most mature, most dignified, most GROWN UP news site on the web, it's just another easily-dismissed rag. As much as I enjoy it, the site (and its editors) has a lot of growing up to do.

[alewis14151]

"... as it would have put Obama's foreign policy on North Korea in a ringer ..."

How about "wringer"?

[bungalow]

Thank you. A few of us, at least, caught that. Even though I agree with her point about the headline, it's ironic that a writer complaining about improper word usage would use a word so improperly.