Does every question mark deserve a Betteridge?
The author explores the validity of Betteridge's law, which suggests that headlines ending in question marks can always be answered with 'no'. The piece questions the utility and rules of this journalistic convention.
Why it matters
Understanding media literacy and the conventions of online journalism helps readers critically evaluate clickbait and headline structures.
To blog is to get dunked on. I accept this. I even sometimes wonder if I should be grateful, as I suspect my willingness to get dunked on may represent a kind of comparative advantage. (You can tell yourself that if you try to placate the haters, you’ll just ruin things for people who like you. But how do you feel when you’re staring down barrel of a 127 comment thread full of people debating how it’s possible that you’re such an idiot?)
Still, there’s one particular species of dunking that puzzles me. For context, Betteridge’s law states: 1
Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no .
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