How to lie with headlines – NY Times edition

So, I’m browsing the NY Times and a title leaps out at me:

Albany Tax Deal to Raise Rate for Highest Earners

The URL says Cuomo, governor of New York.

Odd, I think.  I wouldn’t expect Cuomo to raise taxes on rich people.  Maybe I’ve misjudged him?  Maybe he isn’t just a union busting jerk squishing the small people and covering his butt with things like gay marriage which the corporate interests he serves are good with?

I read further.  Paragraph 3:

The long-term impact on the wealthy was described by some as a cut and others as an increase: beginning next year, the highest-income earners will be taxed at a lower rate than at present, but at a higher rate than had been expected with the expiration of the surcharge.

Oh.  So, in fact, the deal lowers the actual tax rate the rich will pay.

Good to see the NY Times is still the same gray old lady she’s been my entire life.

Back when I was a managing editor at FDL and the Agonist, I used to tell the writers the following: assume that 90% of readers will only read the title of the piece.  Assume that of those who do read further, you are losing half of them with each paragraph. I doubt the Times numbers are that much different.  The vast majority of readers will never get to paragraph 3.  They will assume the title is accurate.  If the title is a lie, which it is, that is the information they will take away.

The accurate headline, if this is the story they want to tell,  by the way, would be:

Legislators lower tax rate for highest earners less than expected