What did you think when you first heard a newscaster say, "Ground Zero mosque"?
Were you shocked? I was.
I'm all about the First Amendment, but any religious edifice--be it mega church, synagogue, mosque, Scientology lair, whatever--on the site of the World Trade seems odd. There were Christians, Jews, agnostics, atheists, and Muslims killed inside the World Trade Center. Why not a non-denominational worship center? I thought.
And then I stayed tuned.
When the cable news channel returned from break I learned that a group didn't plan to build a mosque ("community center," actually) on Ground Zero, but near Ground Zero, two blocks away. Big difference. Calling it the "Ground Zero mosque" is a misnomer. But dropping "Ground Zero mosque" in a headline or teaser--just as I did--sure grabs the eyes, doesn't it?
Problem is people rarely read below the headline or listen to the full report, especially when it's not about Mel Gibson's ex or Heidi Montag's plastic surgeon. As PR professionals, you know that all too well. How often does your boss or a client call to complain about a possibly misleading headline, even though the actual story is clear and positive? You're left calling the reporter or editor to complain. And guess what they're saying about you in that newsroom? "What an asshole."
I digress.
Would this debate have happened if the media continually referred to it as the "mosque near Ground zero"? Hard to say--but we'll never know.






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Although I agree that this headline was misleading, I feel like this was a subject that attention needed to be drawn to. Dishonesty is never a good policy, but any kind of religious center that close to the ground zero cite is inappropriate. Journalists often spin a headline to draw media attention, and it usually works. I feel like other, more ethical methods could have been used. Because of the emotion attached to 9/11, people are especially sensitive about the issue. It is sad that people would stoop to that level to gain ratings.
Posted by Samantha Glover | September 21, 2010 3:22 PM
Posted on September 21, 2010 15:22
I've been through the negative headline/fair news story many times. This is not that. Ground Zero is such a huge site and its symbolic meaning is so global that two "blocks" from the World Trade Center is nothing. I was there many times prior to the attacks, meeting with two people who died on 9/11. The mosque site is uninhabitable today because of the direct damages it sustained from the attacks. The headline is not inaccurate factually or symbolically.
Distance-wise, those are a couple of extremely short blocks, if you want to call them “blocks.” I couldn’t call them “city blocks.” As for the semantics of mosque or “center,” it’s a place of worship and a center for its community. Using their vernacular, they call that a “mosque” everywhere else with the exception of at Ground Zero.
In PR we have to look at both facts and meaning. On the surface, this is a local issue, a zoning issue, and only marginally a freedom-to-worship issue because it has been well-documented that New York is home to hundreds of mosques which are peaceful places to worship.
But the meaning is another thing altogether and transcendent when looking at this situation. Americans who welcome the mosque on this site have no understanding of how this mosque will play around the globe. Believe it or not, many people with no love for America are the ones providing funding from all around the globe to build this mosque (Local issue? Hardly.) Proponents of the mosque want the building there because of its symbolic value and the power it lends them. If we can’t face that, we’re lying to ourselves.
Posted by Anonymous | August 26, 2010 4:23 PM
Posted on August 26, 2010 16:23
I am taking a Public Relations Writing class at Georgia Southern University, and I have to say, after reading some of textbook and hearing what other Public Relations students have to say, it is crucial to have appropriate headlines. I guess a better word, in place of appropriate, could be the desired headline. Magazines, movies, billboards, and more definitely try to catch the audiences’ attention with their headlines, and since that is the first thing people read, I feel like more effort should go into it. If the overall message can be summed up into a simple headline, PR may be even more effective.
Posted by Ashley White | August 21, 2010 3:08 PM
Posted on August 21, 2010 15:08
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