Hatchet Job Headlines

I saw this link from another story in the Baltimore Sun to which someone had sent me a link.

Sarah Palin accused of lifting from Gingrich article

Look at the language here. "Accused" of "lifting". As if some sort of crime had been comitted here. Plagarism that Gingrich might be upset about.

So, was she accused by some publisher who wants royalties? Is Gingrich insisting on proper crediting when he is paraphrased in a sentence or two? Is she being sued? One would think.

But no, it's some Huffington Post blogger doing the "accusing" of the "lifting".

And the Baltimore Sun prints it as "News" with a potentially scandalizing headline.

This is a hatchet job headline to a quite uninteresting piece of "news" that nobody should be surprised about. Palin and Gingrich are on the same team, with similar world views. Should it be surprising that they make some of the same arguments and perhaps borrow from each other? Or perhaps borrow from the same sources? There's like, zero story here, except to have the words "accused" and "lifting" associated with "Sarah Palin". They're never done. They must have a Pocket Alinsky in their back pockets.

I'm starting a new post tag. "Hatchet Job Headlines". These are negative headlines which suggest something that the story does not back up that are simplistic, sensational, and designed to re-enforce a negative image the media is building against a person or cause they don't agree with.

I need to come up with another for Positive Propaganda headlines for global warming fluff pieces and the like. Something like Positive Propaganda Press or the like. But I don't like that one because it needs to reference the headline. Something more like the bookend alliteration in Hatchet Job Headlines would be better, so that they can mirror each other at some level.