Media, headlines, the usual

Of course, to complain about media's way to bend our minds to their ends is an exercise in futility. But a good whiny complaint sometimes makes the load of bile in out innards that much lighter, so here it goes.

CNN, August 20, 2018, Monday:

White House rejects Turkey's offer for pastor's release: report

I am not sure why the word "report" had to be added. How different is that article from a myriad others? To be on the safe side, here is a definition of the word, as it seems pertinent to our case:

A written document describing the findings of some individual or group

There is another definition:

A sharp explosive sound,

but we shall leave it for later.

Anyway, if you, like many other surfers of the news sites, skimmed the headlines, your conclusion after reading this headline alone and not clicking through must be unequivocal: the powers that be don't really want the good pastor to get out of Turkish jail. Right?

Only, if you do click through, what you get is a bit different:

The White House has rejected a Turkish offer to release an American pastor in exchange for forgiveness of billions of dollars in US fines on a Turkish bank, expressing that other matters would be considered only after Andrew Brunson is released, a senior administration official told The Wall Street Journal.

In effect, it looks like Turkey was trying to sell an American citizen for a ransom of several billions, isn't it so? Just like a regular gang of kidnappers or, even worse, some terrorist outfit low on cash...

So why wasn't it presented in the headline as it should have been? Like this:

Turkey offers to release the pastor for a ransom of several $B : report

You know why, don't you? Now I refer you to the second meaning of the word "report", and if you are above the age of 18 (or as appropriate in your place of residence), you can see it here.