Written by: Stephen Lightfoot

In a surprising study, researchers have concluded that the most read part of news articles, regardless of their content, are headlines. The study also found that graphics were the second most frequently viewed part of a news article after headlines, followed by the graphics caption and, finally, the article itself. “If the article’s headline isn’t prominent or a graphic isn’t present, the likelihood of that article even being seen is significantly diminished,” said one researcher. “However, we have concluded that the odds of people reading the article go up if the headline contains a meta joke.”

Other researchers were less optimistic. “Let’s face it,” the lead researcher wrote in the study’s conclusion. “The average person is gonna read our study’s title, and go, ‘Huh, that’s kind of interesting,’ and then they’re going to move on. Honestly, has anyone even read this far? Please, for the love of god, read the whole study. We worked on it for five years — my whole life has revolved around this study. My wife left me because I had to finish this. Please.”

Editor in Chief Emeritus at The MQ

Stephen Lightfoot is Editor in Chief of The MQ.

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