In a column that is critical of Chronicle headlines on Rep. Tom DeLay’s partial victory in having charges dismissed, reader representative James Campbell gives readers an interesting look inside the newspaper:
In response to a query from me, copy editor Helen Olin explained the process behind the Page One headline: “Our logic at the time seemed pretty straightforward. DeLay was in court with hopes that his case would get tossed. That didn’t happen. We put that in the main headline and explained the split ruling in the deck. I truly had no intention of appearing biased. We wrote the headline based off the story’s lead paragraph. … The lead did not take a double-barreled approach (meaning the story’s first paragraph didn’t read that the judge rendered a split decision). Thus, our headline focused on DeLay failing to get his case thrown out. We felt our deck, which mentioned the conspiracy charge being dropped, added balance. The point size and the story’s lead, not political bias or any other non-editing related force, influenced our actions with that headline. Had it been a story about any other politician with the exact same circumstances, we would have arrived at the exact same headline. I will certainly take that into consideration next time I’m working on a story with a politically charged nature.”
I accept Olin’s earnest answer. I also believe there was no intent or conspiracy afoot to write a biased headline. The resulting headline, however, conveyed a bias. The headline was in fact — accurate. Most observers know that DeLay went to court attempting to get all charges against him dismissed. He failed.
By implication, however, the headline was biased. It insinuated that DeLay failed — completely — when he gained a partial victory. The deck head fully explained the judge’s split decision. But the damage had been done, and readers were not concerned about the deck. Indeed, if we had written a headline that read: “DeLay wins one, drops one, trial will procede,” that might have allayed complaints about headline bias.
Copy editors are taught to write compelling, witty and interesting headlines. It’s a tough task, particularly on deadline. Most of our headlines hit the mark, but readers notice the ones that miss.
He was going along so well until that last sentence. In truth, the Chronicle suffers from weak headlines more than occasionally. Sometimes it can give the appearance of bias, but it may well be that the newspaper’s headline writers just aren’t as good as counterparts at newspapers of comparable reach.
Campbell seemed to have a little fun with this:
Instead of taking a neutral or glass-half-full approach, the headline provided fodder to those who claim we are “Chronically biased.”
Who would do that?
