Yesterday a headline for Newsweek story about the current crisis on the US-Mexico border made us do a double-take and insert a WTF: “Honduras’ First Lady Says She Will Collect Her Country’s Child Border-Crashers.”
We would expect such a headline from a Town Hall or a Breitbart, but this is Newsweek. Has the quality of one of America’s iconic news magazine dropped down several notches? Apparently with a headline such as that one. Also, what about the use of “collect” as is these “child border-crashers” were some form of trash? The headline was so problematic, we shared it with our community. Not surprisingly, many thought the same thing:
@latinorebels @Newsweek As in "hey boy and girls let's go crash the border–yay!" 🙁
— Bobby Rivera (@riverarc) June 20, 2014
.@latinorebels @Newsweek how about #refugees #immigrants ? You care so much about #bringbackourgirls but treat #children cruelly on US soil.
— arooooga! (@Jackypriego) June 20, 2014
“Click Bait. They care about you clicking on the title, they don’t care if you’re offended. Disgraceful journalism. Pathetic.”
“This society is losing its humanity…so sad and shameful!”
“Seriously, these people have no dignity.”
Latino Rebels contacted Newsweek via email earlier this morning about the headline, and has still not received a response. We also tweeted the story’s writer, Karla Zabludovsky:
Hi @KarlaZabs, can you explain why the headline in your latest @Newsweek story used the term "child border-crashers" in the headline? thanks
— Latino Rebels (@latinorebels) June 20, 2014
Zabludovsky responded:
@latinorebels Ay. I don't write my headlines and am requesting to fix this very unfortunate one now.
— KarlaZabs (@karlazabs) June 20, 2014
@karlazabs thank you
— Latino Rebels (@latinorebels) June 20, 2014
Later in the afternoon, the headline had changed to this:
We appreciate Zabludovsky’s sincere efforts in changing the headline to the story she wrote, and we understand that many journalists don’t write their own headlines—but maybe they should? Or at least, maybe they should be informed of the headline before a story gets published? Someone on the Newsweek editorial staff thought the original headline was valid. Changing it after the fact is fine, but why was it written in the first place? Maybe Newsweek will return our email, or maybe not.
By the way, the word “collect” is still there. These are kids, not trash. There are better words to choose, Newsweek. Step up your game.
While we’re at it, we can do without headlines that say “border kids” as well (source: IndyStar). These kids aren’t some pop group from Nogales, either. They’re refugees. They’re migrants. They’re kids.
