Don't just scan headlines, read the content! - Salleh

Readers should be more careful and not just look at the news headline as the news content can sometime be different from the title, so readers should conduct their own censorship

Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said ideally, a news headline should be anchored on the content of a news item as it is the basic principle of journalism ethics.

The headline must be taken from the intro or the first paragraph of the news article but this doesn't seem to be the case nowadays.

"What we find now are news headlines which are confusing and do not reflect the content of the news item while some have even deviated from the content, in sensational news or reports, in which the writing was out of context.

"I read newspapers and surf news portals... it is my daily routine since then and more so now that I am in the ministry responsible for the media," the Communications and Multimedia Minister said in his latest blog post today.

In the current era, every second information flows in with stories from various writing angles , he said.

Salleh said among the mass media and news portal, there were differences in approach, to attract the attention of readers and he noticed there was a tendency to look for news headlines that were sensational, controversial, speculative and provocative.

"News headlines are usually decided by the editor and not the journalist or writer stated in the by-line of the report, therefore deciding a news headline depended on the justification and integrity of an editor.

"Every editor has his own basis and approach, but usually the editor would choose a title which sells newspapers and therefore the news editor or news portal operator should be more careful as they are fully responsible for what is published," he said.