The rather timid headline for a recent aggressive story in the New York Times (NYT) introduced a detailed investigation by that newspaper of how the governance of Israel has been captured by brutalised backers of apartheid.

Michael Edesess recently observed how headline writing is regarded a special skill in journalistic circles. The NYT, he noted, argues that compelling headlines require: “vivid wording, a conversational tone and internal tension”. Curiously, the headline for........

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