This weekend, a Palestinian armed with a machine gun opened fire at soldiers on a Jordan Valley checkpoint. The soldiers returned fire, and the Palestinian died. An unfortunately all-too familiar story.
Most people will only know the basic info of what happened by skimming the headlines in their local paper or social media feed. That’s why headlines are so important, wire services pay people to do nothing but write headlines.
Now, if the only headline you saw happened to be this one by AFP, what would you think?
Don’t tell me it’s impossible to get nuance into headlines. AP and Reuters filed these headlines at the same time without any problem.
Either AFP doesn’t take headline writing very seriously, or someone at this French wire services wants to demonize Israel.
Image: CC BY-SA HonestReporting, flickr/Richard Heaven
