Thread by @MarkJacob16

Dear New York Times,
Your headlines are a disaster. Such as this one in which you depict Trump’s racism as “his long-held fascination with genes and genetics.” This 🧵 offers other examples.
Please do better. I’m willing to help.
Mark
1/14

When Trump called his opponents “vermin,” the Times wrote this mind-blowingly bad headline.
After a social media uproar, the Times changed it … 2/14

… but in the retooled headline, the New York Times still didn’t include the key word “vermin” that Trump had used in his speech. Other media put “vermin” in the headline because of its obvious echo of fascist rhetoric of the past. 3/14

When Biden visited Florida last year to inspect hurricane damage, Gov. Ron DeSantis wouldn’t meet with him. The New York Times’ first headline seemed to blame Biden. After a social media uproar, the Times rewrote it twice – but still didn’t put the onus on DeSantis. 4/14

When the New York Times published an excellent editorial about Republicans blocking funds to fight AIDS worldwide, it wrote a headline blaming “partisan politics.” But it was partisan politics BY REPUBLICANS, as the editorial clearly stated. 5/14

When Alabama Republicans blatantly defied a Supreme Court ruling striking down their anti-Black gerrymandering, the New York Times softened it by saying they “declined” to create a majority-Black district. 6/14

When the New York Times published an important story about Republicans’ love affair with Vladimir Putin, it wrote this mushy headline, as if the editors didn’t want a hard-hitting story to have a hard-hitting impact. 7/14

Last year when the New York Times was slow to accept that the economy was healthy, it put a negative spin on positive news. (As if stock investors aren’t always jittery.) 8/14

And again last year, the New York Times wrote a negative headline about positive economic news. (As if fears don’t always linger in the economy.) 9/14

And again last year, the New York Times wrote a negative headline about positive economic news. (As if there aren’t always wild cards in the economy.) 10/14

When former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi died, the New York Times’ headline and supporting text forgot to say he was spectacularly corrupt and was a convicted criminal. It did say he was a “showman” who “introduced sex and glamour to Italian TV.” 11/14

Bad headlines aren’t a new problem for the New York Times. In 2016, the Times wrote this headline that shared a Trump lie with no skepticism.
The story itself (by NYT star Maggie Haberman) didn’t include the Cruz denial until the 7th paragraph. 12/14 archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.co…

And maybe this is the topper. The New York Times found a new, playful way to describe lying. 13/14

I used to write newspaper headlines for a living, and I know it’s difficult to do well. I’m willing to help. @nytimes, I will give you a free seminar on how to improve your headline writing. I’m not kidding. Take me up on it. And do better. 14/14

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