The title obviously varies from the source, & I have no opinion on any prior cases of editorialized titles from the submitter. But, on this story itself, the submitted title is more honestly representative of the article contents than NPR's own title.
The current HN title is: "Missing businesswoman urges ex-husband not to publish book critical of China"
The NPR title is: "'Red Roulette' Reveals The Inside Of China's Wealth-Making Machine"
Notably, the interview is entirely about the details of the strange & sinister calls the author received. There is only a vaguest blurb of the book's topic in the interviewer's intro/outro. There are no questions or answers about the larger topic of "China's Wealth-Making Machine" or specific material in the book. It's all recounting the circumstances of the surprise calls, happening after the book's contents were written.
This article is truly well-described by "Missing businesswoman urges ex-husband not to publish book critical of China", instead of NPR's anodyne title – except insofar as the author's whole recounting of the calls is clearly part of the book's pre-launch PR.
(In fact, the contrast between the interview contents & NPR title is so large it raises at least 2 more questions:
• Did the author make up these calls as PR?
• Did NPR itself feel pressured to 'hide the lede', genericizing their title, either because of their own doubts about the story credibility, or geopolitical concerns about angering the CCP?)
OK, that's an argument that the original title is misleading, in which case the site guidelines ask the submitter to rewrite it. If that's why ilamont rewrote the title, that's legit and I made the wrong call.
Edit: ok, I read the article (which I hadn't before) and you're right. Sorry! I should have checked for that posting.
The current HN title is: "Missing businesswoman urges ex-husband not to publish book critical of China"
The NPR title is: "'Red Roulette' Reveals The Inside Of China's Wealth-Making Machine"
Notably, the interview is entirely about the details of the strange & sinister calls the author received. There is only a vaguest blurb of the book's topic in the interviewer's intro/outro. There are no questions or answers about the larger topic of "China's Wealth-Making Machine" or specific material in the book. It's all recounting the circumstances of the surprise calls, happening after the book's contents were written.
This article is truly well-described by "Missing businesswoman urges ex-husband not to publish book critical of China", instead of NPR's anodyne title – except insofar as the author's whole recounting of the calls is clearly part of the book's pre-launch PR.
(In fact, the contrast between the interview contents & NPR title is so large it raises at least 2 more questions:
• Did the author make up these calls as PR?
• Did NPR itself feel pressured to 'hide the lede', genericizing their title, either because of their own doubts about the story credibility, or geopolitical concerns about angering the CCP?)