A good title is what makes or breaks an article. There are too many interesting articles in the paper or online to read. As humans, we are intrigued to read things that appear to be funny, scary, or personal interest. The title is usually one of the only things that a person can use to judge the article without reading it. A picture is also a quick and easy way to identify what the article may be about. So, if the title is “Why hasn’t the US eradicated the plague” and there is a picture showing a hand that has become black from the plague, the typical American is almost forced to read the article. This article displays how writers over exaggerate research in order to intrigue
The Article Compares the U.S. to countries like Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru when talking about the disease. The writers has put the U.S. in a category that consist of third world countries when in fact countries like Brazil, Ukraine, China, and India have far more outbreaks a year than the U.S. The writer takes another shot at the U.S. by saying “it’s nearly 50 years since the US landed men on the moon, but Americans are still dying from a disease that ravaged Europe in the middle Ages.” From these two comments, the writer has both scared and undermined the American people. It also creates the idea that everybody in the U.S. is at risk. Since 1970, there has been one case of the plague east of Oklahoma.
The major problem about this article is the opening tone. The article was posted by the British Broadcasting Corporation and the tone is aggressive towards the U.S. The death rate is above average, but not the diagnose rate. There are too many variables to strictly talk about the death rate. The plague has a 60% death rate if left untreated and can only be treated in the early stages, and that is for the common case of the plague. There are two other cases that infect the blood and lungs and is more deadly. Also the early signs for all cases of the plague are hard to discover. From the information provided in the article, the reader should be able to reason that a small outbreak of seven people compared to two is not unreasonable. The second half of the article is about where the plague comes from and what scientist are doing to stop it. The author even answers her own question, “Why hasn’t the US eradicated the plague?” The answer, “unless we exterminate rodents, the plague is always going to be around”. So the article take a drastic change in direction directly in the middle.
The problem is, people will begin reading the article, stop half way through, and lock themselves in a bunker in order to survive and that’s how writers make their living. Writers know how to draw the normal human into a topic, making them believe something is far more serious than it actually may be. Research shows that people are unable to stay focused past the halfway point, so they just stop reading. It is called scrolling and sharing. People think they have understood the entire article when they have not. For this reason, the BBC article is set up to scare the majority of the people who read it, when in reality the author actually explains themselves, creating a less hostile article.

http://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34398099
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/06/how_people_read_online_why_you_won_t_finish_this_article.html