The Washington Post planned to endorse Kamala Harris over Donald Trump before owner Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, decided against it, the newspaper reported.
Could they have written the headline, “Washington Post Endorsement Killed by Bezos”?
Sure. But tradition dictates you lead with the person. People are interested in people.
You are right. It is click-baity, but that’s because it is a newspaper headline and all newspaper headlines are “click bait”. They literally invented it. That’s why we have headlines. Often in bold and large type.
I disagree that this is misleading though, especially if you expect folk to read the whole sentence.
I think it is traditional newspaper language.
For instance to “kill a story” or “catch and kill”.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_and_kill
I think they expect most people to get that.
That is not the same as “[name] killed”.
It sort of is.
He used his executive position to kill the story.
Could they have written the headline, “Washington Post Endorsement Killed by Bezos”?
Sure. But tradition dictates you lead with the person. People are interested in people.
You are right. It is click-baity, but that’s because it is a newspaper headline and all newspaper headlines are “click bait”. They literally invented it. That’s why we have headlines. Often in bold and large type.
I disagree that this is misleading though, especially if you expect folk to read the whole sentence.
Who do you imagine killed the story then?
You’re right and that’s not what’s written there. It is “killed [object/action]” i.e. the endorsement.
To me this thread sounds more like ragebait than the original title.