Half-empty glass still spills

I like to think of myself as a supporter of young journalists. Not the random people "filming" on their cell phones as they march around in demonstrations, but actual professional writers. It's a job that will never make you rich. But we need smart people watching and telling us what's going on in the world. I almost made a career out of it myself, before I saw that I could do a lot better, money-wise.

So yay, news writers! But sometimes the kids veer off course, and you wonder about them. Take this headline in the Merc the other day:

It sounds like the defendant was comletely exonerated, right? Well, no, read the actual story and you see:

Yes, some charges were dropped, but the person was guilty. The reporter slanted her lead, and the headline writer (who nowadays may well be the same person) made it worse. 

It's stunts like this that make you distrust a "news" organization. The Merc's point of view is never in doubt, but they ought to ease off a little on the spinning.

The O handled it better: