Ron Paul Made the front page of yahoo.com about an hour ago with this story under the title
“GOP’s Ron Paul has Unusual Appeal”
Then, 11 minutes later, the headline is changed to
“Ron Paul remains longshot for GOP nom”
Other than that, the 2 articles are identical.
But notice the incredible difference a headline can make. It looks like someone at Yahoo (or more likely at the AP) decided after the fact to push their own political agenda. The story went from the “Unusual Appeal of the favorite of those looking for a candidate outside the political mainstream” to a marginalized “Longshot”.
Isn’t the power of the written word Amazing? How, in the middle of the night (literally 2:11 am EST), a political hack can turn a positive story negative with just a few keystrokes.
Also note that this was NOT done to get more clicks or attract more visitors to the story. No one with half a brain could argue that “Ron Paul remains longshot for GOP nom” would get more clicks or reads than “GOP’s Ron Paul has Unusual Appeal.” This was 100% politically motivated.
I guarantee you that the word “Remains” in a headline does not sell newspapers. How is it news if something “remains”? Isn’t that the opposite of news? Isn’t it the antithesis of a magnetic headline?
The mystery is - Who made the change? Was it the Article’s Author, LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON Associated Press Writer, Yahoo, an editor at the Associated press . . . Smurfs? Who decided that the “Remains Longshot” title was the better way to paint this story than “Unusual Appeal”?
4 Responses to “Political Hacking At Yahoo.com”
Look at the numbers from Google Trends:
I think it’s pretty clear that A LOT of people are interested in Ron Paul.
[…] SEO Black Hat picked up on a little editing that took place with an article about Paul, a Texas Congressman who has captured the fancy of some voters. Here’s what they noted about a headline switch for that story: Ron Paul Made the front page of yahoo.com about an hour ago with this story under the title […]
[…] Political Hacking At Yahoo.com By QuadsZilla Ron Paul Made the front page of yahoo.com about an hour ago with this story under the title. “GOP’s Ron Paul has Unusual Appeal”. Then, 11 minutes later, the headline is changed to. “Ron Paul remains longshot for GOP nom” … SEO BlackHat: Black Hat SEO Blog - http://seoblackhat.com Listen to this podcast Print This Post […]
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I notice this the worst with Reuters articles. Once you start looking for it you can really tell they’re skewing things in one direction.