Missing chef 'has come to harm' (maybe)

Here's a recent BBC News story where the headline and the body copy fail to agree:


The headline says the missing chef has come to harm, whereas the body copy says she "may have" and (in the quote) "has probably" come to harm. That's a big difference, especially for Claudia Lawrence and anyone close to her.

BBC News: Missing chef 'has come to harm'

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

True, but in the title 'has come to harm' is in single quote marks. Which implies the statement is someone's (unverified) opinion.

I agree that it's thoughtless wording though.

JD (The Engine Room) said...

I'm with you absolutely that the single quote marks imply that the statement is someone's opinion. However the opinion in question is presumably Galloway's, and he doesn't say that Lawrence "has come to harm".

Anonymous said...

Aha, you're correct. A more accurate, but less enticing, headline would be: "Missing chef 'may have come to harm'.

Because of the website's layout, the BBC always seems to trim down their headlines to make them as short as possible. Looks like they overstepped the mark here.