Justin Bieber Crashed a Prom, But Who Gave Me the Whole Story?

Apparently, Justin Bieber crashed a prom over the weekend, which the students seemed to enjoy. He even danced with the prom queen! Nobody was that click-baity about it, but I noticed something interesting I did have to comment on. Like every story, there are two sides.

The reason I decided to review click bait is because I don't want to live in the world of Idiocracy. I don't want a world of sound bites, articles optomized for search engines, and pure meaningless fluff. I want even handed reporting to let me know what happens in the world around me - and since I'm from Southern California, celebrity news is local news. Justin Bieber crashes a local prom, that's local news.

So the news I always grew up with - ABC, NBC, and even MTV News reported that Biebs crashed the prom and the students loved it. Yay! Everyone is happy.

Except, not everyone was happy. School district officials had something to say about Justin Bieber crashing the prom, like he pushed himself in and they were concerned about safety. I didn't learn that from the news I'm supposed to rely on, though. So who offered the even handed reporting that voiced the school district's side of things? TMZ and Perez Hilton. ABC may have had one line about it, but they acted like it was nothing. NBC straight up said Bieber was allowed to crash the prom, so maybe Brian Williams isn't the only person in their employ who exaggerates the truth.

News is in trouble when gossip sites are more interested in reporting the whole story than the actual news is.

Did You Know Jared Leto Is The Joker?

Jared Leto's Joker look isn't exactly "Fuller House" news and the same media that handled that pseudo-responsibly turned around and jumped all over themselves making you want to click their Jared Leto Joker links. So what made me decide to go with Buzzfeed's "The First Look At Jared Leto As The Joker Is Insanely Intense?" Well, I'm kind of rewarding them. The title isn't that click-baity, but the URL says "Jared Leto as the Joker nightmares so many nightmares," so it's like they resisted temptation. You see thay, MTV News? You can fight the addiction to click-baity titles.

Of course, it doesn't change how the article was presented on Facebook.

But I give them credit for showing the actual picture. Many media sources hid behind an older picture of Jared Leto like the original photo wasn't from Twitter and that the only way you could see it is to click the link. 

I also have to give Buzzfeed credit for not just showing a picture and babbling for however many words search engines like. 350, I think. Buzzfeed got interactive. They polled the readers.

As you can see from the results at the time I responded to this  very scientific study, people are generally positive about Jared Leto's Joker look, with 40% of respondents saying they were terrified and loving it, while another 20% love the look without being scared about it. And out of respect of the fine line between reviewing something and making reading it 100% pointless, I'm going to leave you guessing about the other 40%.

Overall, I have to say this article is only 12% pure click bait. Good job, Buzzfeed!

Anti-Click Episode 3: Slow News Week

Another week, another vlog. It was a slow news week, so I only discuss one article this week. Here's the copy for the episode:

Hello, and welcome to Anti-Click, where I review click bait so you don't necessarily have to. I'm your host Amanda, filming at scenic wherever I have wifi. It was an incredibly slow news week with many news articles being about "Fuller House" becoming a reality. This was possibly the most responsibly reported piece of entertainment news in ages - but one news source showed their addiction to click-baity titles. And, guys, it was not Buzzfeed.

Any other guesses? If you said "MTV News", you might be better adjusted to their decline than I am. Yes, MTV News contributed to the Internet's every minute on the minute coverage of "Fuller House" news with the article "The 'Full House' Revival Is Officially Heading To Netflix, But There's a Deadly Twist." Dramatic much, MTV News? Unless you live under a rock, you know that "Fuller House" follows DJ Tanner-Fuller, recently widowed and pregnant mother of two boys, with Stephanie and Kimmy moving in to help her out. It is also the gender flipped premise of "Full House," so I wonder if MTV News knows what a twist is. Look, even Buzzfeed went with '"Full House" Spin-Off Is Officially Happening on Netflix,' so MTV News may wish to re-examine some life decisions.

That's it for this week. Leave anything you want in the comments - praise, criticism, recommendations for articles to review - and I'll see you next week with more Anti-Click.

I Admire Honesty

News outlets, pay attention: this is an example of how to have fun without being click bait. And I'm showing you with a Dorkly article from last September that they advertised today. So, let's look at "The 10 Most Ridiculous C-C-C-COMBO BREAKERS on the Internet" and see what they got right.

How did they advertise it on Facebook?

No misrepresentation at all. The name of the article on Facebook is still the name of the article when you click through. That image is used in the article. And the accompanying status text is cute and applies directly to the article.

That's really all you have to do to not be click-baity. And this is even an instance where I have no issues with the title. They deliver on the combo breakers being ridiculous, and since I'm not about to scour the Internet to find more ridiculous combo breakers, I'm very willing to take their word on it. More importantly, it didn't make my eyes roll from the beginning. Besides, there's a distinction between saying something is "most ridiculous", which is a matter of taste, and a "genius hack" which is a meaningless adjective followed by a meaningless buzzword.

Sorry real news - you need to be more like Dorkly.

April 20th Is a Date, Not News

Guys, exploiting 4/20 is low hanging fruit.  No effort.  But considering the real tragedies that have happened on April 20ths past, I guess I should be glad that only stoners are getting exploited over something frivilous.

But Huffington Post, there is no excuse for how you handled advertising an update to your March 30th article "McDonald's Will Test All Day Breakfast." Let's look at this:

I will give them credit.  They said kind of.  But there are major problems here.  First of all, that's not the name of the article.  Second, despite the kind of, does that not imply that everyone could just go to Mickey D's after 10:30 and just get a Sausage McMuffin just because it's April 20th?  Thirdly, that's not even how you spell Mickey D's, Huffington Post. Get it together, guys.

The article is an update of one published last month, announcing that McDonald's is testing all day breakfast in select San Diego chains - starting today, April 20th.  McDonald's offends me.  First of all, be true to your roots guys - IE can't get all day breakfast love?  You came from San Bernardino.  Second of all, really?  You make it easy for news media outlets to bait readers.  For shame, guys.  I know it's basically free advertising... but come on.  You couldn't have started next Monday when three weeks ago you said, "within the next month or two?"  Three weeks definitely qualifies as being within a month or two, but the delivery still seems kind of early.

Shame on Huffington Post for dangling such bait, and shame on McDonald's for making it easy for them to do so and also not giving me all day breakfast.  I will accept my apology in the form of multiple Sausage McMuffins.  You can stop when you're forgiven.

MTV News Reminds Me That the Struggle For Real News Is Real

Remember when Kurt Loder and Serena Altschul gave us our news between MTV programs and it was either real news or music news and no fluff? Well, you'll be glad to know MTV is consistent - they didn't just kill the music in MTV, but also the news in MTV News. Bright side: if they hadn't done that, we would never have such captivating pieces as "13 Struggles From 2005 That Today's Teens Will Never Know." I don't remember doing a lot of struggling in 2005, but let's have a look.

3. Listening to music in the car required a cassette adapter thingy.
They're talking about for their iPod. How rich was the writer of this piece? In 2005, I was using a cassette adapter thingy for my CD player because, like many young people, I had a used car and couldn't afford an iPod.

5. We had to agonize over who was in our "Top 8".
Yeah, okay, I'll give them that one. That struggle was real.

7. Flying meant long wi-fi withdrawals.
We had wi-fi in 2005? I was barely not using dial-up.

13. Miley Cyrus wasn't famous yet.
But we had adorble, unspoiled by Disney Big Fish Miley. Life was simpler for all of us.

So it's not only fluff, it's fluff that is about a much better 2005 than I lived in. Thanks for making me realize how really real my 2005 struggle were, MTV News. I would have been blissfully oblivious without this top notch reporting.

Anti-Click Episode 2: The All Hillary Episode

This week on the vlog, I handled some Hillary Clinton related click bait. This is what the copy I read from actually said:

Hello, welcome to Anti-Click, where I review click bait so you don't necessarily have to. I'm your host Amanda filming at scenic wherever I have wifi. On Sunday, Hillary Clinton announced she would once again be running for President - let's look at some of the ways the former senator, Secretary of State, and First Lady has been used to garner views - and I just have to warn you, there is little creativity.

Let's start with the NPR article "5 Things You Should Know About Hillary Clinton." Does this article mention the Presidential hopeful's stance on important issues? Of course not. It mentions things like shehas not driven a car since 1996, and that she's been involved in a lot of scandals. The article admits that last one is common knowledge, so it really does feel like they chose the number for the clicks.

Huffington Post, however, took it further with "17 Little-Known Facts About Hillary Clinton That Have Nothing To Do With Her Politics." At least it admitted that it was non-political, and it really only repeats that Hillary Clinton has not driven a car since 1996. However, this article has flaws, starting with the title. That's a title I expect from Cracked, not HuffPost Politics. The URL shortened it to "Hillary Clinton nonpolitical facts" - what was wrong with using that? Also, am I supposed to be comfortable getting political coverage from a source that captions a picture "LOLLLL?" This isn't Buzzfeed.

Speakig of Buzzfeed, they contributed to this stunning Hillary coverage with "Here's Hillary Clinton Ordering a Chicken Bowl at Chipotle." I have to give them credit - the title isn't that click-baity, and they didn't caption any pictures "LOLLLL," making me feel slightly more comfortable getting political coverage from them. But this isn't news. Who cares what Hillary Clinton orders at Chipotle?

Well, apparently, everyone because New York Time's The Upshot ran "Hillary Clinton's Chipotle Order: Above Average." To be fair, The Upshot is "less essential analysis" - but come on. How is it this much easier to know what Clinton ordered at Chipotle than it is to find out what she actually said in Iowa? I feel like a stalker for trying to read the news.

That's it for this week. Feel free to leave whatever you want in the comments - praise, criticism, recommendations for articles, and I'll be back next week for more Anti-Click.