Why context matters

Posted at 2:19 PM on August 8, 2011 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Media

Finding examples of poor journalism is like shooting fish in a barrel today, what with the stock market meltdown and all.

Here's a headline from the front page of CNN.

It rather looks like advice, doesn't it?

It's not.

Five paragraphs into the story, we get the real context of the quote:

"Investors are having one reaction to the downgrade: sell first and ask questions later," said Paul Zemsky, head of asset allocation with ING Investment Management.

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Comments (3)

Nice that you caught a screenshot with a few credit card ads on it too.

Posted by MR | August 8, 2011 2:45 PM

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I'm counting how many times you use "meltdown", I just know there will be a quiz!

Posted by Bonnie | August 8, 2011 3:08 PM

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I find online headlines are the best place to get investing advice.

Posted by Mike | August 9, 2011 9:47 AM

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