Honestly it's 2022 and editors at legacy news organizations should stop picking headlines without consulting writers. This was an artifact of print layout requirements and limited 20th Century communications technologies.
Editors might still want to write headlines for freelancers, but at a minimum they should email/text the writer and say "we're planning to run with this headline. Is that OK?"
@timlee As a reader of news (but also as someone who writes technical/scientific papers for a living), I find it totally bizarre that writers are not consulted on the headlines to their articles
And even moreso that the writers of the headline are not explicitly credited, but instead the author byline is right under the headline
@mickeykats @timlee it’s not bizarre; it’s cynical. The publication’s interest is clicks and revenue; the journalist is, in theory, more invested in the accuracy and impact of his work product. It’s taken out of his hands for the sake of SEO optimization, appeasing a polarized readership, or catering to specific demographics.
@timlee @AmberWavesofFlame @mickeykats It is largely driven by 'SEO' / clickbait / news-stand sales, IMHO.
@timlee @AmberWavesofFlame Well, it's interesting. It's very clear how it came about, but what is more interesting is why it persists despite being absurd for the modern world. Is it /just/ inertia, or do editors like the ability to embelish or provoke a bit without pushback from the writers?
@mickeykats Obviously the exact motivations depend on the editor and the publication. But I think most of the editors we're talking about hate thinking about traffic and just don't like having authority taken away from them.
@AmberWavesofFlame @mickeykats no it has nothing to do with seo. It’s a legacy of print publishing workflows that made it inconvenient to consult the writer when the page was being laid out. Digital native publications mostly have writers write their own headlines.