We recommend that you base your awareness of what is happening in the world and in our country, as well as the conclusions, not by reading the headlines only!
Very often in the media space there are bombastic and dramatic headlines that are aimed only at getting more clicks, while the inside of the news offers nothing to the readers. And at such times, when a state of emergency has been declared in our country due to the situation with the COVID-19 virus, there are headlines on the media that instill fear and panic among the population, while in essence, the news does not concern our country. The goal is clear: getting more clicks through dramatic headlines.
One of the examples is the news published on 23.03.2020 on the portal Republika: A patient diagnosed with coronavirus spat in their face: 14 police officers were quarantined.
The title is dramatic because it does not provide an answer as to where the event actually took place. It can disturb the readers and to urge them to click on the news, as the headline suggests that the event may have happened in North Macedonia.
If you click on the news, already in the first sentence it becomes clear that the event happened in Greece: Fourteen Greek police officers were quarantined following an incident in Athens, when a man claiming to be infected with coronavirus was spitting in their face.
The news was also posted on Press24.mk, but it was deleted shortly after.
Another example is the news published by the portal Kurir on 24.03.2020. The headline refers to a man with coronavirus who died after being treated with chloride phosphate and that his wife is in critical condition. But the headline doesn’t tell us where the event took place. In order to find out that it refers to an event that took place in the United States, and not in our country, we need to click on the news.
Another example can be detected from the news published on 18.03.2020 by Kurir. In it, the title refers to an MP who is infected with coronavirus but does not indicate that the MP lives in Ukraine.
“The Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament and MPs will be tested for being infected with COVID-19 after one of the MP was tested today and the results showed that he was positive, that is, that he is infected with the virus,” reported the local Ukrainian media.
There is also the news of four infected MPs, but in France. The news was published on 09.03.2020 by the portal Kurir.
The news published by the portal Infomax on 23.03.2020 can be also taken as an example. The headline of the news reads as follows: A TRAGEDY: Two more doctors have died from the dangerous coronavirus.
Just by reading the headline we may get the full information and a sense of panic may appear, especially when we know that there are healthcare workers infected with COVID-19 in our country as well.
However, when we click on the news we will get the right information that the deceased doctors are actually residents of France.
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This project was funded in part through a U.S. Embassy grant. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the implementers/authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Government.
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