Good Question!

Is This Headline Useless?

Ray Gustini Oct 25, 2010
"If there’s a question mark in the headline the answer is either (tabloid) 'no' or (broadsheet) 'who cares?'" So goes Beattie's Law, a theory The Independent's John Rentoul credits The Wall Journal with definitively proving this weekend after it ran Christopher John Farley's article under the headline "Did the Kanye West Incident Help Taylor Swift's Career?"

While we've had fun in recent weeks noting the similarities between The Wall Street Journal and the older gentleman from Up, we're dubious of Rentoul's argument. Because, well, we do care. And sometimes you actually don't know what the answer is. What if the piece concluded that the Kanye West incident drove Taylor Swift out of show business for all eternity? Because when it comes to Kanye, nothing is as it seems. (And to be quite pedantic about it, the article wasn't published in the print edition, but on The Journal's Speakeasy blog, which kind of hurts the 'broadsheet' portion of the argument.)

(H/T to The Awl)

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