Connotation of headlines
Friday, January 26th, 2007Just as we got used to hearing about the hot real estate market in 2005, We’ve been used to hearing about the slow market in 2006. Imagine my surprise, then, to be greeted by this headline in an email from the National Association of REALTORS:
- “2006 Is Third-Highest Sales Year on Record”
That sounds pretty positive! Compare this with some other headlines on the same content:
- “Annual Existing-Home Sales Fall Most in 17 Years” (Washington Post)
- “Home Sales Figures Signal a Slowing Market” (New York Times)
- “Existing Home Sales Plunge in 2006″ (Associated Press)
As is oh-so-common, oversimplification or bias to a particular point of view is not new. I guess I can’t blame either party. Trying to reduce a relatively complicated landscape into 6 to 10 words can be challenging. Perhaps one can either pick a side or be arbitrary. I suppose a new job may be in store for the editor that writes the headline “Home Sales Figures Released” or “Home Sales Metrics are Mixed.”