The dumbest Stuff or Herald headlines (& other news media)

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#3209795 23-Mar-2024 10:41

jamesrt: "Live, World Leaders Speak" also seems slightly over-the-top - at the end of the day, one person is ill, it's not WW3.

"Live, World Leaders Speak" - I didn't see the headline or the context myself. Article leaders are changed frequently. I didn't see this one.

Fifteen countries including New Zealand count the monarchy as head of state. Maybe twice that number have close relationships of one kind or another.

The issue affects someone close to a future head of state. It is not surprising world leaders maintain relationships and this becomes news. The level of online cofeve has been notable. Future heads of state are clearly of public interest like it or not.

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#3209814 23-Mar-2024 10:53

gzt: The issue affects someone close to a future head of state. It is not surprising world leaders maintain relationships and this becomes news.

Sure; the point I was trying to make (obviously badly) was more around the "Live" blogging/tagging for that particular article. At the end of the day, it's already late evening/night; what sort of "Live" comments to they expect to hear/post?

eracode

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#3210436 25-Mar-2024 03:18

NZH headline today says “Luxury yacht skipper loses $400,000 in scam”. Buried in the story is the fact that his bank was able to retrieve and refund $200,000 - so he didn’t lose $400,000. However that doesn’t stop NZH repeating in the body of the story that he “lost $400,000”.

The misleading headline is probably best-practice clickbaitery.

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#3210481 25-Mar-2024 10:42

eracode:

NZH headline today says “Luxury yacht skipper loses $400,000 in scam”. Buried in the story is the fact that his bank was able to retrieve and refund $200,000 - so he didn’t lose $400,000. However that doesn’t stop NZH repeating in the body of the story that he “lost $400,000”.

The misleading headline is probably best-practice clickbaitery.

I actually disagree with you on this one. It's not clickbaitery at all, it's accurately portraying the scale of the amount he was scammed for. That the bank was able to retrieve some of it is both rare and not really relevant to the fact that he paid $400,000 to scammers. Besides, when you lose something then find it, you still lost it - it doesn't magically erase the fact that it was ever lost in the first place.

The word "lost" probably isn't what I would use mind you, but it was likely chosen due to space constraints. And I certainly wouldn't have used the word "stolen" in regards to the money that he willingly paid under false pretences (the body of the story does not repeat that he lost $400,000, it uses the words "stolen $400,000" in reference to the money laundering).

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#3210493 25-Mar-2024 11:33

Kyanar:

I actually disagree with you on this one. It's not clickbaitery at all, it's accurately portraying the scale of the amount he was scammed for. That the bank was able to retrieve some of it is both rare and not really relevant to the fact that he paid $400,000 to scammers. Besides, when you lose something then find it, you still lost it - it doesn't magically erase the fact that it was ever lost in the first place.

The word "lost" probably isn't what I would use mind you, but it was likely chosen due to space constraints. And I certainly wouldn't have used the word "stolen" in regards to the money that he willingly paid under false pretences (the body of the story does not repeat that he lost $400,000, it uses the words "stolen $400,000" in reference to the money laundering).

Yep, I do see your point. However I’m still of the view that NZH will veer heavily towards sensationalism and overstatement given half a chance.

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jamesrt

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#3210928 26-Mar-2024 08:24

Well, that's over to the connected OS to decide, surely???? Keyboards aren't magic!

eracode

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#3211917 28-Mar-2024 16:48

There’s a story in NZH today about the closure of the Brynderwyn Hills section of SH1 for two months while resilience work is being done. The story purports to include a timelapse sequence of the works being done.

It’s actually just two photos - before and after - with an animated wipe back and forth between the two. That’s not timelapse imo.

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#3212390 30-Mar-2024 20:56

Not a headline, but asinine banality masquerading as news:

“One woman posting on social media after the incident urged everyone to stay safe.”

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#3214275 4-Apr-2024 18:16

Not content in using the prefix for a thousandth (m) to mean million, the media is now using centi- to mean one hundred times:

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#3214276 4-Apr-2024 18:43

Oh. The article mentions 12 digits so they're talking about hectobillionaires not dekamillionaires as one might easily assume. The original article was published by the BBC which links to this Collins Dictionary entry:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/submission/22007/centibillionaire

Saying it's a new word under consideration and referencing The Telegraph. I have never been a fan of the Collins. Established in 1979 with computers what?

Oxford all the way.

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#3214349 4-Apr-2024 23:04

The RSS feed:

The NZ Herald homepage clickbait:

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#3214415 5-Apr-2024 10:38

gzt: Oh. The article mentions 12 digits so they're talking about hectobillionaires not dekamillionaires as one might easily assume. The original article was published by the BBC which links to this Collins Dictionary entry:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/submission/22007/centibillionaire

Saying it's a new word under consideration and referencing The Telegraph. I have never been a fan of the Collins. Established in 1979 with computers what?

Oxford all the way.

It's a submission. Collins accepts stupid word submissions from the general public (no really!) and then if they see the stupid word in use on the internet (including such esteemed establishments as TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit) then they accept it into the Collins Dictionary. This particular word was submitted by the learned philologer "AlloyMiner".

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#3214448 5-Apr-2024 12:03

RNZ: What you need to know as daylight saving ends.. Really?

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#3214579 5-Apr-2024 14:17

Not really dumb but looks pretty weird if you don't know the background, there's a beach north of here called Manly Beach, named after the Sydney suburb of the same name. So you get news stories like this:

Making it even more open to groan-inducing stories, there's two sub-beaches, one big, one small. You'll never guess what the big one is called...

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#3214662 5-Apr-2024 14:47

neb: Not really dumb but looks pretty weird if you don't know the background, there's a beach north of here called Manly Beach, named after the Sydney suburb of the same name. So you get news stories like this: Making it even more open to groan-inducing stories, there's two sub-beaches, one big, one small. You'll never guess what the big one is called...

South Steyne?
North Steyne?
Manly Cove?

The small one is of course Little Manly, I've swam there many times

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