I started to notice a trend on Mastodon and Lemmy where the person criticize a news source for writing a minimally biased headline.
Sometimes, I even notice a person posting a article on Mastodon to provide commentary, and in the replies you would find a person criticizing the headline for not using loaded words.
Is there is any specific reason for people doing this?
I’ve mostly seen the exact opposite on lemmy, people (rightfully) calling out clickbait headlines.
I also observed the same thing as you in non-political communities .
Sadly, I had never seen it happen in any political community here…
Some people want too politicalize everything. They see it as a war. They see having a right side and a wrong side, and the truth is just inconvenient. It’s better to persuade people than communicate truth.
Ideologues on a mission to evangelize.
Because passive language can be biased to.
Say someone speeds, ignores a red light and runs over a cyclist, which headline is more biased?
Fatal crash at xy intersection, collision between car and bicycle.
Irresponsible driver kills cyclist at xy intersection.
Irresponsible driver kills cyclist at xy intersection.
And you read the article and it’s a ambulance with it’s sirens on, going through a a green light that the cyclist was running.
The reason unbiased/factual headlines are preferred is because there can always be context we miss at the reporting time.
For using or not using loaded words? Generally, It’s easier to criticize some words than to write down a long and nuanced opinion. You literally don’t even need to read the attached article. And it’s emotionally more rewarding to pick on things than write a comment that you agree. Also politics is an easy target for arguments and strong opinions. Try the same with gardening or the life of Johan Sebastian Bach and you’ll see the same dynamics don’t apply to some other topics. Unless someone writes something obviously wrong facts, that’s going to be pointed out immediately.
