Categories: OLD Media Moves

The WSJ is trying to get away from clickbait headlines

William Power and Jennifer Hicks of The Wall Street Journal write about how the paper is trying to get away from writing “clickbait” headlines.

Power and Hicks write, “A headline can veer into this territory when it tries to sound mysterious, or comes across as if we are promising to wow the reader with a secret. That, in itself, can be a turnoff, because most people know by now to avoid clickbait. (It is especially bad when we don’t deliver on what we promised.) A headline should match the tone of the story, and assure readers that we have the details that make the story compelling.

“‘There’s sometimes an edge in our heads that isn’t in the stories,’ says Editor in Chief Matt Murray.

“While we are on the subject, we have been overdoing it on the question headlines. It is our job is to answer questions for readers in articles, not ask them. Don’t go overboard on the ‘Why’ and ‘How’ headlines either. ‘Sometimes, they work—but they also telegraph, ‘This nonurgent story can wait, and there’s not much news happening today,’ ‘ Matt says.

“Here are a few examples where we veered into clickbait and questions:

● Trump’s Immigrant-Detention Plans Benefit These Companies
● The Tax Wrinkle That Is Making Pension Funds Buy More Treasurys
● Don’t Want Kids? That’s All Right, Japanese Prime Minister Says
● Trump Wants Oil the World Doesn’t Have”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.