”Councilman Dan Halloran has traffic ticket tossed and cop who gave it to him demoted to foot patrol”
Cidu Bill on Jul 15th 2010
If this arrogant son of a bitch doesn’t get tossed out of office over this incident, then surely no voter who reads this New York Daily News headline will vote for him again.
And this year’s Worst and Most Misleading Newspaper Headline award goes to… [full News article here]
Filed in Bill Bickel, media | 25 responses so far
amo Jul 15th 2010 at 02:52 pm 1
Wow. No kidding. I would vote for that award. It took me a couple minutes to understand the article because of the headline.
George Jul 15th 2010 at 03:04 pm 2
Who gets the blame for misleading headlines? The article writer? The editor? Someone else?
Yaniv Jul 15th 2010 at 03:40 pm 3
What happened to the good old days where someone who violated the code of their job actually got fired?
Susan T-O Jul 15th 2010 at 04:09 pm 4
Well, it’s *technically* true. . . but yeah, there’s a huge difference between the implication of the headline and the meat of the story. Wowzers.
Frosted Donut Jul 15th 2010 at 04:11 pm 5
@George: It’s almost always an editor who writes the heads (some papers have people who do nothing but write headlines). Writer’s can suggest them, but are usually ignored.
This headline gave me whiplash when I read the story. Talk about a 180 degree spin!
Makes one wonder if it was on purpose…
furrykef Jul 15th 2010 at 04:11 pm 6
Even worse is the fact that, if you only skim the article instead of reading it (and keeping the names straight), it looks like the article actually matches the headline. It took me a minute to figure out what was really going on here.
furrykef Jul 15th 2010 at 04:12 pm 7
Frosted Donut — speaking of editors, you might want to watch that greengrocer’s apostrophe.
Mark in Boston Jul 15th 2010 at 05:01 pm 8
Next headline will be “Councilman Actually Shows Up On Time For Meeting”
George P Jul 15th 2010 at 06:43 pm 9
What shocked me is that most of the people who commented actually read the article, not just the headline.
Gilgamesh Jul 15th 2010 at 08:04 pm 10
I seem to be seeing more and more stories about arrogant cops. I wonder if its’ just my perception, a prejudice on the part of news providers or do police officers feel unrestrained. Of course those are not the only three choices.
It may be due to the ubiquity of phones with cameras. As a side note; Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts cops are arresting citizens who film them in public, on duty. The argument is that they have some sort of ‘expectation of privacy’. In public? On duty? I don’t think so.
Considering some police have been caught lying about their actions, their peers and hierarchy have a tendency to stand behind the offending cop (no matter what) and the majority of abused are perceived by society as being generally untrustworthy; I am thinking recordings are a vital means to preserve a free society.
I have always been treated excellently by police officers. What I wonder about is; are the incidents of police brutality increasing or are they only better reported.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128387108
David A. Rooney Jul 15th 2010 at 08:10 pm 11
Frosted Donut @5 - “Makes on wonder if it was on purpose . . ”
I agree - a much more accurate headline would have been “Halloran gets traffic cop demoted for dangerous driving and unprofessional conduct.” The part about getting a ticket and then having it dismissed could have been left to the text of the actual story.
Clearly the editor wants the man out of office.
George P @9 - I find it heartening that the commentors actually read and seemed to understand the article. Too often in my job I run into people who don’t seem to bother to read what you give them. And they vote.
David A. Rooney Jul 15th 2010 at 08:23 pm 12
Gilgamesh @10 - probably just better reported, although there is also the fact that the population in general is numerically larger than in the past. Even if the percentage of bad cops has remained flat over the years, there is still a numerical increase in their population, making it more likely that their behaivor will be noticed. And lets not forget that the population in general has long been conditioned to think of themselves as “entitled”. And cops are part of the general population.
June Jul 16th 2010 at 12:58 am 13
Whenever you read the Daily News regularly, you kind of know not to trust the headlines. It’s kind of like the World Weekly News.
Kilby Jul 16th 2010 at 04:34 am 14
@ June (13) - Here it would seem that the copy editor at the New York Daily News wrote the headline after (or as) the article was (being) written. At the World Weekly News (and the National Enquirer), the editor usually writes the headlines first, and the staff must then produce the drivel that matches the headline.
woodenmask Jul 16th 2010 at 08:05 am 15
Gilgamesh - I’ve got a theory that as a society, we’re demonizing everyone in public service: politicians were a no-brainer, the clergy (Catholic and Evangelical) have done a fine job of making themselves disliked, then it was lawyers, for the last year or two it’s been teachers. My money was on nurses or firemen for the next round, but maybe cops are the next in rotation.
Ian Osmond Jul 16th 2010 at 08:29 am 16
Gilgamesh: my impression has been that the decency of police officers varies greatly by jurisdiction. Here in Melrose, ten miles north of Boston, I genuinely like every Melrose police officer I’ve met — they’re uniformly polite, competent, and generally decent.
My brother-in-law quit his job as a vice cop in St Petersburg, Florida, because he was sick of being the only honest and competent officer in the department. Oh, the system was broken all the way up — corruption went all the way through the administration to the mayor’s office, but it was rare to find an officer who was both competent AND honest. He switched over to the Sheriff’s department, where they actually did policing.
So different departments have different degrees of competence, politeness, and brutality. You can’t make generalizations about “police” — but you can come closer to making generalizations about specific police departments. Some units are really culturally sick, in which honest officers are the exception, not the rule.
zharris Jul 16th 2010 at 11:24 am 17
Lalloran should have returned the reporter’s calls
Pinny Jul 16th 2010 at 02:39 pm 18
David A. Rooney (#11) wrote:
“Too often in my job I run into people who don’t seem to bother to read what you give them. And they vote.”
Sounds like an accurate description of the current Congress:
“It’s going to be very, very exciting…But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”
- Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on March 9, 2010, re: the National Healthcare Bill
http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=1576
MB Jul 16th 2010 at 03:29 pm 19
Hmmm.
The headline gives one the impression of an out of control city councilman who used his position to get a ticket tossed out and demote the cop who dared give it to him.
The article makes it clear that it was the traffic agent (he’s never referred to as a cop. Is there a difference?? I’ve never heard of a ‘traffic agent’ separate from a police officer) that was in the wrong, and it was a judge who tossed out the ticket and other who demoted the him.
I think that the incidents of out of control cops seems to be increasing. Some have made the case that its the ‘militarization’ of our cops that is partially to blame (ie, use heavy handed swat-style tactics when its unnecessary).
Paul G Jul 16th 2010 at 04:29 pm 20
To be a bit fair to the article, if you were familiar with this story already, this wouldn’t be too misleading. I knew about the story ahead of time, but didn’t know that the guy involved as a Councilman (nor did I remember his name), but as soon as I opened the link and saw the picture of the cop, I knew what the story was about. If you already knew what was going on and were following the story, the headline wouldn’t seem out of place. Though, of course, they could have written it in such a way that people not familiar with the story wouldn’t get the wrong impression.
Father Bruno Di Frocco Jul 18th 2010 at 07:28 am 21
Misleading headlines? You betcha, but sometimes they’re purely accidental. In Ohio some years back, I covered a murder case in which a guy named Peters was denied bond at his initial hearing. My headline read “Judge Orders Peters Held.” The next morning, I was met at the courthouse by a dozen county officeholders (including two judges, two commissioners, and the county sheriff) who were lying in wait for me. All of them were grabbing their crotches.
Elyrest Jul 18th 2010 at 11:17 am 22
Father Bruno Di Frocco (21) - I don’t even have a peter and I would be inclined to do the same thing. Thanks for the laugh.
Pete Jul 19th 2010 at 09:38 am 23
I’m just glad I wasn’t around.
Meryl A Jul 20th 2010 at 01:07 am 24
It’s the Daily News. It’s not the Times. If you are from NYC area you know the Daily News is trash.
CIDU Bill Jul 20th 2010 at 01:13 am 25
True, Meryl, but there’s one thing you have to say in the News’s favor: they’re not the Post.