Betteridge's Law: Is Every Headline with a Question Mark a Gimmick?

illustration: bing.com/create

The hypothesis about question marks in titles is called Betteridge`s Law, Betteridge`s Rule, or Betteridge`s Principle. It was formulated by British journalist Ian Betteridge in a February 23, 2009 article on Technovia.co.uk. Analyzing an article from TechCrunch, Betteridge noted that headlines ending with a question mark are often untrue or misleading.

Titles are often crafted this way to catch readers’ attention or create a sense of sensationalism. They imply that something important or disturbing has happened, like scientists discovering a new cancer cure or the government planning new taxes, even if there’s no confirmation for such claims.

The Question Mark in Titles: Why Do They Do It?

Betteridge’s hypothesis is widely accepted by journalists and scholars. It’s used to assess the credibility of headlines, suggesting that headlines ending in a question mark should be treated with caution. However, the use of question marks in titles is more complex. Often, the goal is to grab readers’ attention or create intrigue, rather than to convey accurate information.

• Capturing Reader Attention
  A question mark can draw the reader’s attention, enticing them to read the article. Headlines with question marks are often mysterious, sensational, or alarming, hinting at important or interesting information. Example: Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Humans at Work?
• Highlighting Information Importance
  A question mark can emphasize the importance of the information in the article. Headlines with question marks often imply that the article presents significant or controversial information. Example: Are COVID-19 Vaccines Safe?
• Evoking Emotion
  A question mark can evoke emotions like curiosity, surprise, or concern in the reader. Question-marked headlines are often emotionally charged, suggesting that there’s a surprise or shocking information in the article. Example: Will Global Warming Lead to Humanity`s Demise?
• Delivering Information
  A question mark can make information more engaging and interesting. Headlines with question marks are often more memorable than those without. Example: Do You Know How Long Cells Live in Your Body?
• Legal Safeguarding
  A question mark is sometimes used as legal protection, for example, against defamation claims. Posing a question rather than stating a fact can be used as a defense. Example: Did Politician X Embezzle Public Funds?

Betteridge`s Law applies to yes-or-no questions, suggesting caution when encountering question-marked headlines.

Marr, Hinchliffe, Davis: Was Betteridge the First?

While Ian Betteridge is credited with formulating the law on headlines, other authors noted this tendency before him. In 2004, British journalist Andrew Marr mentioned it in his book My Trade:

When a headline poses a question, consider answering no. Is this a true depiction of British youth? A sensible reader might answer ‘no’. Have we discovered a cure for AIDS? No; if so, the question mark would not be there. Does this map hold the key to peace? Probably not. In most cases, a headline ending with a question mark suggests the article is biased or exaggerated. It aims to scare or amplify a simple fact into a controversy, or even a national panic. For journalists seeking accurate information, a question mark means ‘waste of time’.

In the 1980s, physicist Ian Hinchliffe proposed a similar idea, leading to what is known in the academic world as Hinchliffe’s Rule. He noted that if a scientific article’s title is a yes-or-no question, the answer will likely be "no." This principle inspired a humorous take on the liar paradox in a 1988 paper by physicist Boris Kayser, under the pseudonym “Boris Peon,” titled: “Is Hinchliffe`s Principle True?”

The principle of question marks in headlines is also known as Davis’s Law, appearing under this name in 1990s literature. It’s even mentioned in the English Wikipedia, though without a source on Davis`s identity or origin.

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Does Betteridge`s Law Hold True?

The key question is whether the principle of answering "no" to headline questions is… actually true. Or to what extent it holds up. Research and analyses show that the world isn’t strictly binary in this regard.

• In 2016, James Cook and Dawn Ploudre published in "Scientometrics" a study of scientific journals (not news publications) to test Betteridge’s Law and Hinchliffe`s Rule. The study found that few titles posed questions, and even fewer were yes-or-no questions, with the answer more often "yes" in the article than "no".
• A 2018 study by John Moli at the University of California, Davis, covering 2,585 articles in four ecology journals, also found few titles posed questions, with only 2.15% being yes-or-no questions. Of those, 44% answered "yes," 34% "maybe," and only 22% "no".
• In 2015, data analyst Mats Linander analyzed 26,000 articles from 13 online news sites and published his findings on his blog. The study showed that most (almost 54%) were yes-or-no questions, with approximately 20% answering "yes," 17% "no," and 16% "maybe".

The conclusion from these analyses is clear. In most cases, the rule of answering "no" to question-marked headlines doesn’t hold up. Whether called Betteridge’s Law, Davis’s Law, or Hinchliffe’s Rule, its existence points to a real issue: journalistic misuse, which frequently appears here.

So when you see a question mark at the end of a headline in a newspaper or on a website: BEWARE! There’s no certainty, but statistically, there’s a strong probability that such a sensational title is just clickbait.