ARGH! The Media And Society Drives Me CRAZY!

[Haselsmasher]

I woke up this morning to the following article in our local paper:
http://www.coloradoan.com/viewart/2...oo-quickly?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

This is an AP article. A little Googling shows most papers seem to be running it with the headline "Born To Run Barefoot? Some End Up Getting Injured". Our paper ran it with the headline "Some Barefoot Runners Regret Ditching Sneakers Too Quickly".

Why is negativism so popular in our culture? (That's more rhetorical than anything else.) We consistently say we hate negative political ads yet they're shown over and over and over again to be effective - which is why they continue to be used. Those headlines could have just as easily been written as:

• Born To Run Barefoot? Some Find Running Becomes Even MORE Fun
• Some Barefoot Runners Wish They'd Ditched Their Shoes Sooner

The bad news draws readers - and it drives me NUTS!
Jim

 

[pitbullmamaliz]

Come now - positive things and joy don't interest people. They want misery and tragedy.

 

[Mike R]

How about these headlines:

1) Barefoot running really bothers some non-runners
2) Why can't barefoot runners step on more rusty nails, broken glass, and used syringes?
3) Drivers are being distracted, not by cellphones and texting, but by barefoot runners

 

[NickW]

Jim, that is exactly why I don't watch the news...

 

[barefootandagile]

Jim,

You should stop reading news. Only read pose approved literature..lol

 

[Lomad]

I read this article, and it read (to me) as less an indictment of barefoot running and more a cautionary "don't do too much too soon" tale. Sure, the headlines are on the negative tip; this is what gets readers. People say they're sick of negativity, but are drawn to it like a moth to a flame (just like gossip).

At least they clarified "barefoot shoes" instead of just letting readers assume skin to ground was the culprit. That's a move in the right direction, no?

***This opinion offered by a dude that hasn't run barefoot in months***

 

[Haselsmasher]

I read this article, and it read (to me) as less an indictment of barefoot running and more a cautionary "don't do too much too soon" tale.......At least they clarified "barefoot shoes" instead of just letting readers assume skin to ground was the culprit. That's a move in the right direction, no?

Lomad:

I agree. The content of the article wasn't particularly bad. What pissed me off was the relative sensationalism of the headline relative to the actual content. The casual reader has to read it relatively thoughtfully and thoroughly to get the main point. The headline does not convey, IMHO, a good summary of the article. And how many people read the headlines, conclude they know what the article will say, and move on? I'm picking nits a bit - it just hacked me off.

Jim

 

[Lomad]

I totally get you there, jim. I did my undergrad in Public Relations and Media Studies; I forget the specifics, but between the headline and the first three or four sentences is about all you can expect a reader to, errr, read. Get attention, make a point, and damn the rest. It's why I rarely read the papers any more. Or watch TV news.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Funny, I started a thread about this very thing, same articles too: http://thebarefootrunners.org/threads/this-is-enough-to-make-me-puke.6732/

 

[Zetti]

Funny, I started a thread about this very thing, same articles too: http://thebarefootrunners.org/threads/this-is-enough-to-make-me-puke.6732/

yeah....how crazy.....you might be inclined to believe that the media loves to take stories and report very specifically in a way that is just informed enough to do some damage, but not informed enough to allow people to draw their own conclusions..............Noooo, I'm probably just crazy