Behind the headlines 3

Another emotively misleading headline

Ketchup ban at council's schools

(or at least it did at time of writing!)

It is not a ban, though. The article admits that the kids can still have tomato sauce - just not the bought-in stuff that was high in salt and sugar. The school makes its own tomato sauce in its kitchens. And making choices over the menu is hardly "banning" stuff.

And according to the TV reports on this story the kids like it!

The news reporter just quotes the one parent who thought it daft. This is a dishonest misrepresentation of the facts. A more accurate headline would be "School makes own tomato ketchup. Some don't like it."

As always in the media a story is distorted and spun into a form where it provokes rather than informs the reader. I expect this of some news outlets, but not the BBC!