Journalism and gardening are two activities with more elements in common than one might initially think. Especially in the genre of interviews, where headlines that have been planted by the journalist are increasingly common, without the person spoken to having provided the seed or, at least, the watering can. At La Razón they interview the singer Julián Hernández. The headline they have chosen, and which they highlight on the cover, is this: “A rock band can end in a cataclysm”. Obviously, it is inevitable to think that he is talking about the lamented Siniestro Total, which he led. But let's look at how the exchange went: “Is every rock band a cataclysm?”, asks the journalist. And the answer is. “Ha, ha, ha. Well, as much as a cataclysm... A rock band can end in a cataclysm, yes. But it's a society, a very strange social, human union”. In other words, the idea of a cataclysm, which is what gives strength to the headline, not only did not arise from the interviewee, but when it is presented to him, he tends to downplay it and then, out of pure courtesy, elaborates a response in which he says that a band – in general, not his own! – can end in a cataclysm. (In the end, if we are hyperbolic, everything can end in a cataclysm, from a football match to a Sunday noodle dish.)I could find a dozen similar examples every week: formulate the question in bombastic terms, and even if the other person, defenseless, says no, you can headline as if they were actively denying it on their own initiative. To the aspiring journalists who read me, I give this advice for struggling in the murky waters of clickbait journalism. Ask the next interviewee as soon as you start: "Do you enjoy skinning street cats?" The answer – gulp, I hope! – will be an energetic "No!". But you will already have the headline ("I do not enjoy skinning street cats"). Then you can record half an hour more of conversation, to finish filling up.
