PressEthic

George Galloway, a well-known and outspoken political figure in the UK, came to public attention in the US for his anti-war rhetoric shouted at a Senate Sub-Committee charged with investigating the Oil-for-Food scandal originating in an Iraq controlled by Saddam Hussein.

Calling the investigation the, "mother of all smoke screens," the angry little Scottish Member of Parliament made quite a spectacle, and possibly wished to embarass the US Senate over what he no doubt considered an unjust or unconscionable war against a sovereign state.

Galloway's links with Saddam and his regime are well documented, and he has been criticised by manjy journalists, amongst them Christopher Hitchens in a pretty exhaustive piece for Slate.

Yet regardless of whether Galloway was complicit with scandals in the Oil-for-Food programme, by accepting oil vouchers for a charity appeal from the Hussein government, he has become a rather ludicrous figure on the side of those opposing so-called, "American Imperialism" in the Middle East by his siding with Arab governments, such as that of Al-Assad in Damascus.

What I find intriguing is his treatment at the hands of different news outlets:

The British conservative newspaper the Telegraph headlines with George Galloway denies new oil scandal claims, placing him squarely in the centre of the story, with his denial deemed more important than the allegation levelled by the Senate Sub-Comittee.

Al Jazeera's English website uses far more negative language in their headline portrayal of the MP, beginning with Galloway accused of lying to US panel. "Accused" and "lying" have very strong connotations about his behaviour.

Meanwhile, Fox News, leads with Senator: British Lawmaker Lied About Oil-for-Food Scandal, giving at least a certain degree of attribution to the allegations levelled against Galloway.

My point is that headlines are the initial lead to an article. Making them more than just plain factual is a natural way of grabbing the reader's attention, yet it seems that a writer can find their readers unduly influenced by a headline which they themselves may not have written. The Al Jazeera headline will not perhaps instill much open-mindedness in anyone reading the ensuing article. Headline writers, as well as the journalists writing, must be careful not to editorialise in their straight reportage pieces, if they wish to avoid censure for imbalanced journalism.