Misleading Headline Hurtful towards Tim Tebow

John Hanlon | April 26, 2010 8:27 PM

For the past several hours, on the Huffington Post homepage, there has been a link to a story about football star Tim Tebow. The headline, which focuses on HuffPo sports includes the following phrase "Tim Tebow 'Nazi Rally'", a phrase that is surrounded by ellipses (...) on both sides.

When one clicks on the full headline (that reads "Big Ben Apologizes.. Tim Tebow 'Nazi Rally'.. Ex-QB Arrested.. Racist MLB Tweet.. Usain Dominant"), a viewer is then sent to the Huffington Post sports page. One of the top headlines on that page is "Radio Host Slanders Tim Tebow: Party 'Looked like Nazi Rally'.

It seems to me that the headline on the homepage of the Huffington Post is both cruel and demeaning to both Mr. Tebow and anyone who attended his draft party. The homepage headline fails to note that this 'Nazi Party' accusation was a meanspirited remark made about Mr. Tebow, a remark that the person who made it has since apologized for. In fact, if a usual viewer was just scrolling down the page, they would likely get a false impression of this party and Mr. Tebow.

Although I understand that strong headlines will bring the Huffington Post more page views, its unfortunate homepage headline about Tebow was both misleading and irresponsible.