Popular News Sources May Not Be The Best At Covering a Popular Story

A popular story making headlines today is that a study conducted in Ohio University found that acetaminophen, a pain killer found in medications like Tylenol, affects positive emotions. The story has been circulating around the internet on different news organizations and blogs. Three articles in particular, however, show how journalists can cause different reactions and interpretations about a story just by the way they write about it.

Cable News Network

CNN.com presented an article on the story with the headline, "Study: Acetaminophen reduces not only pain, but pleasure, too" on April 15, 2015. The headline is mostly descriptive rather than
explanatory because it is just saying that the article is about a study and that we have to read about the study to find out information. This deters the amount of information the audience gets from the headline, causing a lower amount of attention to the article.

The article begins with a slideshow of photos with the caption "Photos: A guide to (legal) pain relief." The photos are somewhat unrelated to the article because they show medicine that is not mentioned in the story. Having photos before the text also stunts the layout of the article and causes confusion as to what exactly the story is talking about.

As we read the article, we find out that the study is shocking because scientists concluded in the past that acetaminophen only affected negative emotions and lead people to believe this for many years. The title does not provide this shocking element so readers do not find the importance of the headline while scanning the news website. Further down, there is also an irrelevant video that is 2 minutes and 42 seconds long. The video talks about the dangers of taking a high amount of acetaminophen. However, the reporters in the video only talk about the liver damage that could be caused; an issue that is not talked about at all in the article.

This article could be drastically improved by:

• Editing headline to: "Ohio State Study Shockingly Finds that Acetaminophen Negatively Affects Positive Emotions"
• Having this photo next to the introductory paragraph
• Replacing news report clip with this explanatory video

Editing this article would create a better reputation for the informational reliability of the CNN company.

The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post also posted a version of the story on their website headlined "Turns Out, Tylenol Blunts Pleasure While it Relieves Your Pain." Although this title is more descriptive than explanatory, it is better than CNN's because it incorporates the element of unexpectedness by using the words, "Turns out." 

In the body of the article, there is a large photo before the text which distracts readers from the textual content. The photo is also unexplanatory because it shows a pile of white, generic pills. The audience does not know what kind of pills these are and why they are significant. However, there is a good use of hyperlinks that lead the audience to explanatory pages that enhance the understanding of the story. 

Though slightly flawed in the headline and use of an unexplanatory photo before the body paragraphs, the article is still effective in summarizing the study made and the results found.

Domain-B

An uncommon news source called domain-b.com has the best edition of the story out of the three mentioned. The article has a headline similar to the other two articles that reads: "Acetaminophen reduces both pain and pleasure, study finds." The headline is not as explanatory as it could be because it does not mention who did the study or incorporate the shock factor, but the article itself has elements that create an engaging and explanatory story. 

In the body of the article, there is an introduction to the history of the drug and previous research that gives readers background information on the situation. This history also includes the idea that this is a  new discovery, which informs the audience that this story is something important. Throughout the body of the article there is an excellent use of quotes by the scientists who conducted the study along with their pictures. This gives readers a better image of the study and allows them to have a visual of the important people involved in this discovery. Specific data from the study is placed towards the middle of the page rather than in the beginning to avoid confusion and disengagement from the audience. This data also helps readers understand the study and adds more credibility to the  news source.

Although there is a lot of important information and data in this article, the paragraphs are kept short
which allows a better and easier flow of reading material. This is important for keeping the attention span of the audience.

Overall, it is seen that writing a good article, such as the one posted on domain-b.com is important for sharing news to the audience. Leaving out important elements, such as the shock factor in this story, deters from the meaning and affect of the story. It is also important to incorporate data when writing about a scientific study. Without data, the story and news source seems less reliable for covering the correct information.