Reporters, columnists, and journalists write articles, but someone else writes the headlines. For decades, this was the traditional approach at (most of) the mainstream media outlets. It sometimes led to friction, because the columnist/journalist might prefer one headline — but a higher-up may disagree. (And since far more people would read the headline than the story, headlines had an outsized significance.)
But that was during the Halcyon Days of media, when outlets had big budgets, oodles of staff, and ridiculously extravagant holiday parties. (Sigh.)
When I began PR some 20-odd years ago, we were “trained” to pitch news directors, because they were the ones who assigned stories. It's not that way anymore: News directors are still around (at least, in title), but at most places, the bureaucratic layer has been so eviscerated by job cuts that journalists have gotta find stories on their own. It’s changed both journalism and the PR game: Older practitioners would be appalled, but “best practice” for PR today is to bypass the news director and pitch the journalist directly. If the reporter believes in your story and wants to do it badly enough, nine times out of 10, it’ll get done.
Yessir, there’s been a Pritzker-sized tsunami of media changes. Been so many changes, in fact, the superhero tropes of the Golden Age of Comics no longer work: Peter Parker, the teenage, part-time photographer, makes enough money from the Daily Bugle newspaper, he could afford a Manhattan apartment (with no roommates)? Lois Lane and Clark Kent have giant offices in a downtown Metropolis high-rise (and seven-figure expense accounts) as globetrotting Daily Planet newspaper employees? Even in a medium with magic powers, space villains, and reality-warping technology, that wouldn’t be believable anymore.
Clark’s biggest problem today wouldn’t be a lack of telephone booths. It’d be a lack of jobs.
But one thing that’s stayed the same is the oversized importance of headlines. If anything, they’re even MORE important today, because not only do more people see the headline than read the article, but the profit model of journalism has evolved to pay-per-click. For a host of reasons, including ad impressions, the “traffic” a headline generates is — very often — the single most important metric of an article’s success.
That’s why it’s so fascinating to explore the headlines our friends in the (rapidly-fading) mainstream media used to describe the results from yesterday’s Gallup poll on American pride. Let’s begin with Gallup itself: “American Pride Slips to New Low.”
Aw, man! That sucks.
And then a whole gaggle of media outlets seized this “editorial baton” and ran with it:
The Daily Beast: Americans Have Never Been Less Proud of Their Country
The Daily Beast (Part II): National Pride in America Takes Dramatic Nosedive Under Trump
Huffington Post: National Pride Is Dramatically Declining in America, Finds Stark New Poll
Newsweek: Gen Z Drives Sharp Decline in American Pride
The Independent: American Pride is declining new Gallup poll shows
Axios: U.S. patriotism fades as American pride close to record lows
UPI: Gallup: American pride falls to record low
The Hill: National pride slips among Americans: Gallup
New American Journal: American Pride Slips to New Low As USA Celebrates Independence Day and 250th Anniversary
Alternet: American pride plunges to new low under Trump—again
Daily Kos: American pride hits new low under Trump—just in time for July Fourth
NJ.com: How many adults are ‘proud’ to be an American under Trump? New poll shows…
The Economic Times: As national pride plunges, Trump’s America looks less ‘great’ than ever, Gallup poll data reveals
The New Republic: Americans Have Never Hated Being American More, New Poll Finds
Even Fox News followed suit: Americans’ pride in their country is declining, new Gallup poll shows. (And lest you think that’s a fluke, on LiveNOW from Fox chose the header: Americans with extreme national pride stays near record low, Gallup poll finds.)
If you only saw those headlines, you’d think this was a story about Donald Trump dividing Americans: “That Orange Monster has done it again! We TOLD YOU he was ‘literally Hitler.’ And now, finally, the rest of the country is so disgusted with his fascist MAGA garbage, they’ve — sniff — lost their pride in America! This is TERRIBLE!”
That’s the power of headlines. When it comes to propaganda, “fake news,” and misinformation, headlines are still one of the top tools in the propagandists’ toolkit.
Because, when we take a peek under the hood of Gallup’s poll, an entirely different story emerges: This isn’t a tale about Trump dividing America! Nor is it a story about “everyday Americans” forsaking the hopes and dreams of Lee Greenwood.
Instead, it’s a story about Democrats giving up on America.
According to Gallup’s own numbers, in 2001, 90% of Republicans were “extremely” or “very” proud of being an American. Almost an identical number of Democrats — 87% — felt the exact same way.
About eight years later, during the first year of the Obama administration, Republican numbers were pretty much unchanged: 92%.
Yet the Democratic numbers fell to 78%.
And eight years after that (2017), Republican numbers stayed remarkably constant: 92%.
The Democratic number dropped again, to 67%.
Just six years later (2023), the Democrats were back in control of Washington, DC. Joe Biden (and his top aide, Mr. Autopen) were back in the White House. Remember, this was the era of open borders, pro-Hamas protests, and anti-American activism run amuck. Yet once again, Republican pride in America stayed incredibly consistent: 85%.
Meanwhile, the Democratic number dropped to 55%.
So here we are today, in the summer of 2025. Two more years have passed. Gallup just released its latest numbers on American pride, and for the umpteenth time, the Republican numbers are almost entirely unchanged: 92%.
This means that Republicans were just as proud of being an American under the first year of Trump’s second term as they were during the first year of Obama’s first term!
That’s because, for Republicans, American pride isn’t tethered to a politician’s career. We don’t stop loving our country just because we don’t win on Election Day. Instead, it motivates us: Because we love our country, we fight even harder in the following cycle!
Not so with the Democrats: According to Gallup, their pride in America has now plummeted to just… 36%!
That’s the real story, when you look beyond the headlines: The Democratic Party has given up on America.
The GOP is now “America First”; the Democratic Party is now “America Worst.”
This isn’t a bipartisan story about Americans losing pride. This is a Democratic Party phenomenon. And if you disagree, consider: Gallup asked Americans how proud they were to be an American three times when Obama was president, in 2009, 2013, and 2015. Those three times, the Republican tally only deviated by three points (92%, 93%, and 90%, respectively).
Republicans don’t stop loving America when a Democrat is president. We’re not built that way.
In 2001, 87% of Democrats were “proud” to be American. Today, it’s just 36%. That’s an astonishing 51% drop in less than 25 years!
You can blame the America-hating curriculum that schools impose on our kids. You can blame the 1619 Project. You can blame the TikTok algorithm. You can blame one thing — or everything — but the reality remains unchanged: The end result is that the GOP is the home of patriotism, American pride, and the belief in our nation’s greatness. To appeal to Republican voters, it’s smart to wrap yourself in the flag.
And to appeal to today’s Democratic voters, you’re better off burning it.
It helps explain what just happened in New York City, doesn’t it?
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