if it bleeds, it leads

9.4

News that is violent or shocking gets more attention and appears first

idiom

Literature

: si sangra, lidera

Many editors choose to put the most shocking stories on the front page because if it bleeds, it leads.

Examples

Critics accuse the media of focusing on crime since if it bleeds, it leads often drives ratings up.
Our journalism professor warned us about unethical coverage by saying, 'if it bleeds, it leads isn't always the right approach.'
The editor always says, if it bleeds, it leads.
In journalism, if it bleeds, it leads is a common mantra.
Many editors choose to put the most shocking stories on the front page because if it bleeds, it leads.
Critics accuse the media of focusing on crime since if it bleeds, it leads often drives ratings up.
In journalism, if it bleeds, it leads is a common mantra among reporters.

Surface Forms

if it bleeds, it leads main

Morphology

if + it + bleeds, + it + lead

The literal words 'bleeds' (to lose blood/indicate violence) and 'leads' (to be the lead story) do provide a clear conditional clue that violent events make headlines, so a learner can partially derive the idea. However, full comprehension depends on knowing the journalistic sense of 'lead' (lead story) and the conventionalized metaphor linking blood/violence to newsworthiness, making the expression not fully predictable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

If it bleeds, it leads is a saying from journalists. They noticed that stories that bleed often show blood or violence and grab attention, so those stories often lead by being put first in the news, which is why the phrase means 'violent or shocking stories are put first in the news'.