Take for example this headline from their front page:
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.”
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What If it was U2?
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.
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.
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.