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Comment: Lethal headline

Lethal Weapons but with no Gibson or Glover

COMMENT —

We get blamed a lot, us media types, for sensational headlines, sensational stories, finding the low-hanging fruit of the issue, or the ever-popular 'fake news' accusations

Not really true for those of us who truly enjoy the craft of writing — we simply write about what is going on around us. But those reference points and allegations are needed in this instance to frame the most recent example of how we find information, and how sometimes that information is already sensationalized by a society competing to be heard over the steady drone of information overload. 

Lethal Weapons

In the coming days, many news outlets across the county will likely be talking about Canada's "lethal weapons" being deployed in Ukraine.

Lethal.

Weapons.

Interesting choice of words.

Is it because those words, lethal weapons, evoke images of ICBM rocket-trails arching across the sky, or soldiers in riot gear and gas masks? Or is it because some will relate the term to the 1990 Mel Gibson cop-movie franchise? Either way, media will be using it to describe Canada's recently announced involvement in the rising crisis in Ukraine.

Lethal weapons.

It's true that media will likely latch onto the lethal description, but it wasn't the media who created it. They had it 'dangled' in front of them by a source that knows how to get people to follow orders — the Canadian military.

Late Monday afternoon, as Valentines' Day was winding down  into date night, a press release was issued to media outlets across Canada from the Department of National Defence. It's headline wasn't a love-note.

"Canada commits lethal weapons and ammunition in support of Ukraine" was the headline.

That's a pretty bold statement.  It's also low-hanging fruit. Is it any surprise that journalists will pick it up and run with it? It's like Double-O credentials being given to reporters; attack with extreme over-enthusiasm. 

In a world — not in a newsroom — where sensational has become the norm, how can you blame them? Heck, a Youtube video of a retired holistic medicine retailer speaking about how she's been 'healed' from COVID by eating unique mushroom stalks, will see a certain portion of society take the video to viral status overnight.

We crave the information... yet dispute its validity at the same time.

lethal press release

We are, like it or not, in an age where attention-grabbing and sensationalizing are competing directly with factual and informative. In many cases, a hybrid of the two sides now squeezes out as acceptable, consumable content. 

Lethal weapons.

The words are sensationalized because we are living in a sensational world. When the staunch, slow-moving bureaucracy that is the Canadian military understands how words as well as weapons can grab your attention, you know the world is changing. The media is just trying to cover it.

 

 

 


Rob McKinley

About the Author: Rob McKinley

Rob has been in the media, marketing and promotion business for 30 years, working in the public sector, as well as media outlets in major metropolitan markets, smaller rural communities and Indigenous-focused settings.
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