Greg Tinti Discovers The Power of the Jump
Greg Tinti shows how the Los Angeles Times spins information about connections between Iran and Iraqi forces fighting U.S. troops.
[A]s many of us in the blogosphere know, journalists do have a funny habit of putting information that’s inconvenient (you know, stuff that’s usually favorable towards the Bush adminisration) deep into a story so it doesn’t mess up the impression they’re trying to establish with the headline and the lede. See, they know full well that most readers only read the first hundred words or so to the get the gist and then move on. And by establishing a narrative in the beginning, they then can bury the other stuff and not be accused of journalistic negligence.
The L.A. Times does this?!?! Say it ain’t so!!!
Nice job by Tinti, who is referring to a little technique I like to call The Power of the Jump. Read his whole post for an excellent takedown of The Times — and an unflattering comparison of the paper with (heavens!) Michael Isikoff.