Media and Journalism, Rank Stupidity, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

The Single Dumbest Headline In SCOTUS History

Truly stupid.

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As we work on coverage of today’s opinions as I write this, let’s take a quick look back. In advance of this morning’s Supreme Court decisions, there were many thoughtful pieces on how the Court would rule. And most of those thoughtful pieces boasted equally serious and thoughtful headlines.

This was not one of them.

Indeed, this one was so bad, and yet so representative of the state of modern journalism, that it crossed the line into the dumbest headline ever….

Josh Gerstein’s Hobby Lobby preview in Politico came with an unfortunate headline:

Wow! I wonder which justices made the list?

I get it: listicles are awesome. We all hate on them, but there’s solid empirical evidence that as much as we complain about them, we still can’t help but click on them. But Politico decided to take it one bullet point too far. I suppose the logic was that some poor fools out there have no idea how many justices there are, but are those people really reading Politico?

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Whatever. It’s decision day, and this story will be lost to the Internet ether once we absorb those.

And then the holiday will be upon us. Enjoy Politico’s Independence Day post: The 50 States You Need To Pay Attention To!

Hobby Lobby decision: Nine justices to watch [Politico]

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