This missive was on Romenesko’s letter’s page:
From JOHN CHEVES: I don’t know which is more depressing, that President Bush admits he gets his news by scanning newspaper headlines, not reading the stories, or that he probably shares this trait with a majority of Americans, if they bother to look at a newspaper at all.
I’m writing a long Sunday story at the moment. Humbling to think that weeks of research amount to little more than whatever the copy editor plugs into the headline space at 10 p.m. Saturday.
This certainly raises the stakes for all us rim rats — if all the president reads is the headlines, there’s all that much more pressure to tell him what he needs to know. (OK, so I had a moment of weakness and considered the possibility he would pay attention to anything he didn’t want to hear.)
As long as I’m on the subject of headlines: It’s a crime to put a bad headline on a good story, but what do you do with a bad story? I heard an editor say it was a crime against nature to put a good head on a bad story. What say y’all?
1 comment for “Reporter laments presidential reading habits”