How many clicks can a story deliver? That’s the coin of the realm of news delivered on the web.
The bait employed by CBS recently was a 13-slide photo series under the heading “Too much of this will kill you.” If enough of us click on all 13, then CBS can brag to advertisers about increased traffic.
They led the photo series with the recent story of doctors tracing a man’s kidney failure to his habit of drinking a gallon of iced team each day. That’s #1 in the series.
#2 (photo below) : CBS wrote: “licorice-clad models may look delicious, but beware: According to the Food and Drug Administration, people 40 or older who eat 2 ounces of black licorice a day for at least two weeks could end up in the hospital with an irregular heart rhythm or arrhythmia.”
#4: Water: “In 2007, a woman died after drinking too much water as part of a radio station giveaway contest.”
#6: Salt: “a 45-year-old woman with an eating disorder became comatose and died after consuming 3 or 4 tablespoons of salt.” AND: “In March 2015, New York mom Lacey Spears, left, was convicted of killing her 5-year-old son, Garnett, by putting salt into his hospital feeding tube.”
#13: Polar bear liver: “experts estimate that a mere 500 grams of polar bear liver has enough vitamin A to kill a human. Other animal livers, such as moose and seal, also contain a very high amount of vitamin A.”
How, about, instead, a 10-slide series capturing our 10 story review criteria. At last check, CBS, with rare exceptions, wasn’t doing very well on those. That might help more readers than advice about eating too much licorice or polar bear liver.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
Monday at #ADA2021, an infectious disease epidemiologist, a journalist, and a researcher shared perspectives on communication of risk in the era of COVID-19: http://ow.ly/ROfR30rMeE7 @AstleyCM @garyschwitzer @berthahidalgo @ADA_DiabetesPro
Shoutouts to @susan_bewley @drkevinknopf @MichaelBaum11 in this call for more than fawning coverage from press releases for these kinds of stories.
Also, linked history inside goes back 5 years just on Grail apparently trying to become Holy Grail. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1408849696416841731
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