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MSN.com is Shameless

Take for example this headline from their front page:

Rapper Facing Murder Charge

When you click on the headline, it takes you to the story, which has this headline:

Cassidy Faces Third-Degree Murder Charge

But before you are given a single detail about the charges or the crimes, there is this clickable-lede:

Sample and download Cassidy’s music

What was the editorial discussion on how to spin this story:

Writer: “Hey, another rapper killed somebody.”

Editor: “Really? Who was it?”

Writer: “Some guy named Cassidy.”

Editor: “Oh. Never heard of ‘em”.

(silence)

Editor (hopefully): “Did he at least shoot someone famous?”

Writer: “No. Just some 22-year old kid named Desmond Hawkins.”

Editor:”Hmmm, too bad. So what’s our angle?”

Writer: “Well, his debut CD went to #2, and he had a Top 10 single…”

Editor: “Great idea, maybe we can capitalize on his crime to sell a few albums on our MSN.Music site.”

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Thursday, August 18th, 2005 | Trackback |

4 Responses to “MSN.com is Shameless”

What If it was U2?

Left by BP on August 18th, 2005 at 9:21 am

What if it was U2 (the whole band, or just Bono?) that shot someone, or that got shot?

It would definitely be a bigger story than another rapper-ganster street shoot-out story.

They probably don’t license MSN to publish or sale their music anyhow.

Left by Robbie on August 18th, 2005 at 9:26 am

Although I love a good MSM beat-up, I think this is just their crappy auto-linking software and not a deliberate action on their part.

Left by Jason on August 18th, 2005 at 6:46 pm

What if U2 did the shooting? Wouldn’t they link to their songs as well? Of-course they try to sell… thats the name of the game. We all would do the same.

Left by Jonny (also known as BP) on August 19th, 2005 at 1:55 pm

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