Than "header knowledge" dangerous

Ilya Ber, the founder of the project “verified” - about the structure of the news stream, clickbeat, about how we get “knowledge” and what needs to be done to navigate in the information field and, if possible, rely only on reliable information. That is - really know what we are talking about.

Let's think about where most of the modern, especially young people learn about what is happening in the world, that is, about the news? Of course, the correct answer is from everywhere. But the "specific weight" of various mediums, that is, information suppliers, are not the same. Some of us still remember the time when for most, the “newspapers” were the correct answer. Then the focus shifted to radio and television, then Internet media appeared. And then everyone - newspapers, magazines, radio and TV - realized that if they are not online, then they would not be at all.

So almost all the media has now become digital. But something else has changed. If earlier people chose one, three or five sources of information for themselves and read (listened, looked through) them completely, now we are increasingly obtaining a personalized news feed selected from the whole variety of existing content. And the main role in this is played by social networks.

Ask yourself what kind of news you get from reposts in your frequent, no matter Facebook, VKontakte, Twitter or Odnoklassniki. I believe that significant, perhaps even more than 50%. And what does this same repost look in the tape? Usually in the form of a picture automatically fit into the publication, and its heading.

By the way, news on the websites of most Internet media and news aggregators also look like the same. In Yandex.No, headlines. On the main page of Mail.ru and rambler.ru - headlines. Everywhere continuous headlines.

In this case, most often the title conveys the main content of the news. And if this is so, then why click on the news itself (especially when it is not so important to us), if we already recognized its essence? It is better to continue to scroll the tape.

This is rational reasoning and rational behavior. That's just it traps us. This happens in cases where the heading of the news distorts its content, or even directly contradicts it. I suspect that everyone who reads these lines at least once came across such a situation. And not surprisingly, this is not uncommon and not an exception to the rules.

Why is this happening? Journalists and editors do not understand what they write about, or intentionally deceive people? Sometimes it happens that they do not understand. But more often the second. His Majesty Klikbeit is to blame for everything! The task of the clickbeat (from the English click - “click” + bait - “bait”) the header lure the reader to the page with the full text of the note, force him to “click” on the headline.

Here it is worth explaining how the headlines of the media in the digital era write. This is a difficult task in which the editor (headlines usually his responsibility) should take into account several factors. In the case of high -quality journalism and work according to standards, the first is the actual compliance of the heading of the material. The task is not distorting the content, to briefly convey the essence.

The second is indexation, that is, accounting by Internet search engines. Nobody knows exactly how Google and Yandex algorithms work, all the more, these algorithms are changing a little all the time. However, 10 years ago it was known that a successful title could “raise” the material in the search results, and the unsuccessful, on the contrary, “lower”.

The successful in the context of search engines is one in which the maximum possible number of keywords associated with this specific plot is “stuffed”. First of all, the names of their own and nouns are important. At the same time, at least one verb should be in the heading. This requirement at one time seriously changed the “newspaper” concept of headlines. Thin allusions, hints, plays and hidden quotes a la “Kommersant” of the 90s almost disappeared from use.

The third is the very enthusiasm. A good title should be “catchy”, he must create stress in the reader, excite interest in his brain, which can only be satisfied by crossing the link and learning details. Actually, the second and third factors have the same task - to get more readers.

And the point here is not a simple vanity. The number of views is the main reporting, the editor’s KPI to the owner of the publication, the evidence of the effectiveness of his work. This can cause objections and discontent, but this is almost always true for both “yellow” and the most reputable media. Because quality measurements are much more complicated and subjective. Views are simple as a felt boot and an understandable tool for everyone. Yes, now they are trying to measure the “View Depth”, “Readability”, the time spent on the page and so on. But clicks are still in the first place.

Here, the editor every time has a huge temptation to embellish the news, make the title more vivid, more scandalous, more unexpected than the text of the note. Many editors are given to this temptation from time to time. And along this path, they often completely break away from the main text. And some believe, then only it is necessary. Hence the very notorious clickbeit.

From recent examples. Shortly after the news of the hospitalization in Moscow, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov from Covid-19 on Russia Today appeared news Under the heading "Emelianenko spoke about Kadyrov’s condition." At the same time, the very first phrase in the text of the notes reads: “Fighter Alexander Emelianenko said that I did not know the health status of the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov.” Not only is there any news, but also the title deceives the reader. Three days later, the headline was changed to the corresponding reality (“Emelianenko said that he did not know about Kadyrov’s condition”), but she, of course, had already collected her “crooked” views by this time.

But a large regional publication of another, let’s say, orientation than the state RT - znak.com. The same story. On May 22, news appears under the heading "The State Duma will consider the law on the provision of priority for men upon admission to the university". Wow, the reader will think! Why, actually? What kind of uncovered sexism? But what about the army?

Clicks on the news and learns that we are talking about the bill of the former State Duma deputy from the LDPR that men with secondary specialized education need to provide priority upon admission to the university in pedagogical areas. A little difference, isn't it? In addition, the reader will find out that this bill is hanging in the Duma since 2017, it was all the time postponed and now it’s not a fact that they will consider it. And then the journalist honestly reports: “This bill will most likely be rejected. The Committee on Education and Science has already recommended him to reject. ”

As in the case of RT, the heading was eventually changed. They took a quote from the article, and the previous title became a subtitle. But the Internet remembers everything. It is enough to just read the URL articles, which coincides with the old name. 

There are less obvious cases when there is no direct deception, but there are distortions that can have quite harmful consequences. For example, a title "Izvestia", and also "Ribbon.ru" And "Rossiya newspaper" From April 29: "The mathematical model predicted the peak of the coronavirus epidemic in Russia." You can only fantasize how many people from the millions who saw the headline really imagine how, in fact, mathematical modeling works, and how much they imagine some kind of robot, a black box or a glass ball, which has inhuman intelligence and magical abilities, and therefore knows how to predict the future. Why then be surprised at the faith of people in liquid chips, digital gulag and animal fear of “artificial intelligence”?

But even setting aside fantasy, we can state that this title is bad. Because there are hundreds of mathematical models, and each predicts its dates for the peak of the epidemic in Russia and in the world. And only by going through the link, one could find out that it was about a specific model of a group of analysts from Sberbank, which predicted this very peak at the first decade of May. 

On April 26, from the headings of some media could you find out that "Four people died in France from the experimental medicine against coronavirus.". At the same time, in the text of the news there was no talk of any experimental medicine for coronavirus. They tried to treat patients with a well -known and proven medicine against malaria with hydroxychlorochin, as well as no less well -known medicine against HIV Caretra. Both drugs gave strong side effects and in the end it was decided to abandon them.

Such examples could be given as much as you like. But further the question arises, what to do with this with this? The first understandable desire for many will be: prohibit, punish, overlap with fines, not show in ribbons. And even some attempts in this direction were made. For example, in May 2017 Facebook announced About a decrease in the rating of materials in which the heading and text do not correspond to each other. Have you noticed any changes? I doubt.

Many journalists and editors in words condemn Clickbeite, although in fact, from time to time, they still continue to resort to him. But not everyone condemns.

“There are at least two reasons to stop teaching others how to write headlines. First: content is just another type of product, for the sale of which you need to adapt to the interests of consumers. And the second: if the readers were really angry with clicks headlines, did not read the materials and never returned to hated sites again, then most publications would have long been closed for lack of traffic and constant loyal audience. ” Writes Medialeak commercial director Marina Karapetyan. 

For readers, the news is a new information that allows you to enrich or adjust your pictures of the world. For a media manager, this is the content that needs to be sold. Sales go, people click and read - the task is completed. And the consequences are no longer his concern and responsibility. In these words you can feel condemnation. In part, it is. But first of all, a description of how the media is arranged in this part. To understand the fact that it is very difficult to fix or change it globally, if at all. And this will happen, if it happens, not soon.

And what to do right now to readers who do not want to receive distorted and inaccurate information? I'm afraid that I do not know a good answer to this question. You can stop seeing dozens of headings per day only by ceasing to use social networks, and possibly in general the Internet. Few for this path will be acceptable.

It is also impossible to click on all the headlines that run before your eyes. You can go crazy from this, and no life is enough for it. So what to do?

The only option I know is to increase my own awareness in information consumption. That is, to try to remember at least about what and how do you know. It is one thing if you read the available materials on some topic, spent time, tried to figure out and form your own point of view. Another - if you just saw one or more headings. These are fundamentally different situations. And if in the first case it is reasonable to have your opinion about the event and to broadcast it to someone, then in the second it is better to admit to yourself that you really know nothing about the subject and prohibit yourself to have an opinion about it, and even more so to share this opinion with someone.

To automatically begin to remember where there is one or another information in your head, it is likely that it will not work. This skill that is formed over time and, like any other skill, depends on the number of training and repetitions. But for most people who want to master them people, it seems that this is quite achievable.