WaPo editor: ‘Stop taking lovers’ headline ‘distracted people’ from taking article seriously

The headline changed on an article by W. Bradford Wilcox and Robin Fretwell Wilson in The Washington Post’s new PostEverything section:

Before & after at The Washington Post: http://t.co/igTVd3GLJB pic.twitter.com/fOPWgZBzlT

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) June 10, 2014

How did that headline make it on top of the article in the first place?

“I think the headline we originally put on the piece distracted people from taking seriously a raft of social science that the authors discuss,” PostEverything Editor Adam Kushner told Poynter in an email. “That was my bad. Regarding the substance of the piece, we’ve said from the beginning—as you reported—that PostEverything is dedicated to publishing a wide range of perspectives about issues in politics and culture.”

PostEverything launched in late May; at the time Kushner told me it would tackle stories “The Washington Post is not necessarily currently equipped to service” and that he planned to hit up ““wonderful thinkers and writers across the academy, across various fields where they’re practitioners” for stories.