Betteridge’s Law of Headlines states the following:
Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word ‘no’.
Ian Betteridge explains his theory as follows:
The reason why journalists use that style of headline is that they know the story is probably bollocks, and don’t actually have the sources and facts to back it up, but still want to run it.
If you post crap, but post it first, it’s still crap.
should’ve titled this “Question marks in headlines?”
“Question Marks in Headlines: An Indicator of Good Journalism?”
“No.”
I actually laughed at that. Good headline. 🙂
Thanks, but it was far from original.
I’ve hated question marks in titles long before I read this here.
It indicates to me that the author is either a limp dick hack hurting for material and just making it up, or a worthless shill spewing what he/she’s been told to spew as fabricated propaganda.
It’s not a sincere question, but a devious way of planting an idea without having to substantiate it–it’s just a question after all. “Just asking (saying)!”