Carlo Boszhard asks people not to read his latest column in Televizier. He does this as a kind of indictment against clickbait. “That’s why I’m now doing a headline that catches the eye.”
The columns that Carlo Boszhard writes for TV guide Televizier are generally soporific. There is never anything striking in it, anything that sticks. There is one RTL 4 colleague who makes it even more colorful: Robert ten Brink. He has a column in the Vriendin that is really impossible to get through. It’s really about the most fussy things; horrible.
‘DO NOT read this!’
Anyway: apparently Carlo’s column is not really being read well, because he has now launched a campaign to get people to click. ‘Don’t read this!’ is his headline latest Televizier column.
It turns out to be an indictment against clickbait, internet journalism with a sensational title to get people to your page. “Many people are busy and overstimulated. Our brain must therefore be selective in what we hear and see. This is cleverly responded to by the very person who wants to reach us,” says Carlo.
‘Head is more important’
It bothers Carlo enormously. “The media, both visual and print, fight for our attention. A headline above an article is more important than the story it tells. That’s why this time I came up with a headline that catches the eye.”
So ‘don’t read this’. He continues: “Maybe words like riot, insulted, slap in the face or drama would have been even better. Necessary in a world where we swipe with a finger and decide what we want to see and what we don’t want to see.”
Well, Carlo has made his point. Another tip for people who are busy and overstimulated: you can skip Carlo’s column…