Um, No?

[deckardcanine]

“The journalistic principle,” or Betteridge’s law
Of headlines, makes allusion to what seems a frequent flaw:
When headlines end in question marks, the answer must be “No,”
As otherwise the journalists would simply tell us so.

Of course, the rule cannot apply to open-ended Q’s
Like those that start with “what”; they’re fairly common in the news.
But yes-or-no examples are an issue, to be sure,
Suggesting one’s commitment to the facts is less than pure.

The practice doesn’t let one off the hook for defamation:
A question mark may not avert undue humiliation.
(I’d like to note that advertisers hope you answer “Yes”
To question headlines; doing so increases their success.)

That said, three different studies put the adage to the test,
And each of them reported that it’s rarer than was guessed:
The articles that answered “Yes” outnumbered those with “No.”
Too bad for Ian Betteridge. I like his notion, tho.