Anatomy of a headline

Multiple sources report a pitcher, Mariano Rivera, has "back spasms" and describe a pain in his back "between his shoulder blades". Nevertheless, a New York tabloid ran with a headline describing it as a problem with the pitcher's "shoulder soreness."

• The content of their report did not provide different information than the others. They just chose to headline a different body part. Not to say that the back, shoulder blades, and shoulder aren't all adjacent in the upper torso. But when discussing any human being, especially a pitcher, one might observe the shoulder and the back to be different and distinct body parts.

One would, of course, be much more terrifying than the other--a pitcher with "shoulder" problems obviously can't pitch. Maybe the NY tabloid has inside info they didn't mention, and everyone else is wrong. Or, perhaps they are wrong. We wait for the outcome of the mystery:***

• 1. AP: "Yankees' Rivera misses game with back spasms."

• 2. RotoTimes citing Associated Press: "Rivera sidelined by back."

• 3. NY Daily News: "Mariano Rivera's shoulder soreness keeps keeps him out of finale"

• 4. SportingNews.com/FantasySource/Injury Roundup: "Injury roundup: Rivera has back spasms."

(By now, the NY tabloid's headline has been seen by millions of eyes, and nothing I note here will make any difference except for historical record. Which is, how media present or skew information). None of the articles listed above suggested Rivera would be out beyond Monday night's game in Texas.

• ***UPDATE: AP follow up report 8/4/08, still describes it as a back spasm--not shoulder soreness as the NY tabloid (listed above) headlined.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon