Update: Fadi Chahine, online editor ar the Daily Star has responded to this post in the comments section.
This morning, I was taking a look at the Daily Star‘s “Most popular articles” column, and at #1 I found this story:
Lebanese 6th most romantic people in world: report
And by “report”, the Daily Star ostensibly meant “completely subjective and random top-ten-list by a travel website vaguely associated with CNN that regularly publishes link baits and fluff pieces with titles like ‘Top 10: The biggest lies in Bollywood’.
I understand when normal people flood twitter and facebook with links to that post. It boosts our Lebanese International Celebrity Syndrome and gives us something (regardless of how dubious) to be proud of on valentines day. It’s fun and it starts conversations.
What I don’t understand is when a respectable newspaper misrepresents that story and makes it sound like some sort of scientific study in which we were objectively declared the world’s six most romantic nationality (for whatever that means).
Does that mean the Daily Star is not allowed to get into the clicks and pageviews bandwagon that this story is guaranteed to provide? Of course not. But for heaven’s sake put it in your gossip page alongside celebrity news, Guinness world records and other lowbrow fare.
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“Seduction secret: Liberal application of hair gel”
I should try that.
Haha..
Who defines romance ?
It’s not like the countries listed here average 8 children per couple, does it?
If having 8 children together doesn’t define lust, love, trust and an uncanny ability by either one of the mates to convince the other that it is and feels great to have 11 children … What is?
I dont know. If you correlate this with the ‘study’ on penis sizebefore, they might be on to something….
Mustapha, we would like to thank you for your input regarding the article published by The Daily Star on Feb. 14, 2012, titled “Lebanese 6th most romantic people in world: report.”
The article you referred to stated that the item was a report and not a scientific study. Furthermore, CNNGo is not “vaguely associated” with CNN. It is, in fact, associated with CNN.
We regret that you couldn’t make out these distinctions in the article. Perhaps a second reading will drive things home.
By the way, The Daily Star does not have a gossip page.
As a newspaper that focuses on politics, arts and culture news, sports and entertainment, we appreciate the feedback from our readers and do try to take their comments on board when necessary to help improve the accuracy and relevance of news items. However, I am not sure what else could be done here.