Media Spin and Attention Grabbing Headlines

The Washington Post published a story yesterday describing some research that says that college students today study less than college students in the past.   The story is largely based on a tiny bit of NSSE data that we first published several months ago describing self-reported time spent studying as it differs across majors.  At the moment, I’m less interested in the data and more interested in how it’s being reported and described.

First, I’m a bit amused that this is suddenly a hot topic given that the information was released 6 months ago.  In fact, it was covered very prominently in November by little-known websites like the New York Times, USA Today, and Chronicle of Higher Education.  I don’t know why the Post decided to write a story about this now (I suspect it has to do with an upcoming conference of higher education researchers, a conference heavily attended by my NSSE colleagues and one at which we frequently present new research).  But it’s amusing and informative that one story written by the Washington Post has set off a flood of blog posts and “news stories” about something that is old news.  Yes, I know that it’s still interesting and pertinent information but this seems to reinforce the sad fact that many blogs and “news sites” are very dependent on traditional media for content, even when that content has been available for months.

Second, I’m amused and saddened by the headlines that people are using to describe this research.  I know that many of the websites listed below are second- or third-rate and use headlines like these just to get attention (which drives up traffic and ad revenue – and which makes me a bit ashamed to be adding to their traffic and ad revenue!) but it still makes me sad.  Some example:

1. “Is college too easy? As study time falls, debate rises.“  This is the original Washington Post article.  It has a fairly well balanced headline.  It’s not over-the-top and it even notes that the issue is not settled as people debate it.
2. “Is College Hard? Students Are Studying Less, Says Survey“  The Huffington Post’s headline isn’t too far from the one used by the Washington Post.  Although I loathe the Huffington Post and how the vast majority of its content is blatantly derivative and unoriginal, this is a decent little summary of the Washington Post article and an alright headline.
3. “Laid-Back Higher Ed” This is how The Innovation Files describes the Washington Post article and the research it describes.  Not horrible but not very good either.  At least it’s not as bad as…
4. “Fun Time Is Replacing Study Time in College” I don’t know anything about FlaglerLive.com but based on this ridiculous and inaccurate headline and blog post I won’t be spending any time there.  I’m particularly impressed by the figure that they copied directly out of the NSSE 2011 Annual Results that they claim is “© FlaglerLive.”  Classy.