Media manipulation is woven through American society, and the most frightening thing about media manipulation is the mass failure on the part of the public to recognize it.
People are manipulated into believing certain things for the purpose of attracting and holding their attention. Headlines are created and positioned to lure you into a story - that is as old as the earliest print media. But what has changed is the fierce competition, primarily by the cable news networks, to win your vote in the daily quest for an audience.
Controversy sells. Controversy attracts attention and emotionally engages audience members to follow a particular story on the media source that alerts them to a controversy.
On the Fox News website - a headline on the morning of Monday, April 5, 2021 read: “Airline makes cancer survivor cover sweatshirt with message championing recovery.”
The headline implies that an airline was callous to a passenger who was proud of the fact that they are a cancer survivor. The problem with headlines is not the headlines themselves, but the people who react to headlines without bothering to consume the story.
I have done experiments on Facebook demonstrating how many people will post comments based on their interpretation of a headline with no interest in the content of the actual story.
The smaller sub-headline to the story about the airline and the cancer survivor does attempt to reveal the content of the story: “American Airlines’ policy prohibits ‘clothing that displays offensive statements and inappropriate language.’” But the clear motive of the top larger headline leads one to think that an airline’s corporate policy is insensitive to a cancer survivor.
The actual story goes on to cover American Airlines passenger, Roslyn Singleton, a two-time cancer survivor from North Carolina who boarded a plane wearing a sweatshirt that read, “F*** cancer.” Singleton was told that the message on her sweatshirt violated the American Airlines policy for any display of “inappropriate” language, and she was told to cover up her sweatshirt.
Singleton said she felt embarrassed because an airline employee allegedly pointed at her as she stood in line to board. “I don’t love cancer,” Roslyn said to WSOC-TV. “I don’t respect it, and my sweatshirt gave my exact sentiments on something that has tried to kill me twice.”
Everyone will agree that the message of “F*** cancer” is the right message, but doesn’t the airline have the right to prohibit profanity?
American Airlines issued a statement explaining that the policy prohibits “displays of offensive statements and inappropriate language from being worn on board.” The airline did, however, admit that this particular situation could have been handled differently. An airline spokesperson said, “Our team is reaching out to learn more about Ms. Singleton’s experience, apologize and reaffirm our support for efforts to fight cancer.”
But this story is not about what American Airlines thinks about cancer survivors. It is a story about a trumped up controversy that falsely pits support for cancer survivors against basic standards of decorum in society. I will be the first to argue that the word “F***” - or any profanity - does not actually hurt anyone. It is impossible to expect one to be shielded from exposure to it in the real world, but I do think it is acceptable to prohibit the premeditated display of profanity in certain workplaces. A business enforcing a ban on profanity is quite different from the government banning profanity in public.
But this blog is not a debate over banning profanity. The subject of this blog is about a headline that is designed to attract attention by presenting a controversial slant to a news story. The headline was created to incite controversy.
This is not an isolated incidence. In 2014, a self-proclaimed patriot accused Harley Davidson of refusing to honor the warranty because he flew American flags on his bike. The headlines basically implied that this great American company - Harley Davidson - was refusing to honor a warranty because the owner of the bike had American flags attached to his hog. Headlines made it sound like Harley Davidson was against the American flag. Considering how many Harley riders consider themselves flag-waving patriots - that was a compelling - but misleading headline.
Harley Davidson was not against the American flag. Harley Davidson has a policy of voiding warranties if an owner attaches anything to a bike that is not issued or approved by the company.
In the same way that Harley Davidson was never against the American flag - American Airlines is not against cancer survivors and may agree with the phrase, “F*** cancer.” The airlines’ policy was about profanity.
Those who want to blame the media for presenting “fake news” or for misleading the public should accept responsibility for never forming an opinion based on a headline. Headlines are bait to catch your attention and do not always reflect the meaning of the story.
