Headlines are a key means for the media to mislead the public (unknowingly in many cases) because often the theme of the headline is all that people remember about a story.

The headline above gives the impression that the FBI has proved a considerable link between all the hi-jackers (there is no "some" nor even "many", just highjackers) and Osama bin Laden. This and similar headlines can be found across the world media today at the top of this story. Now read on and see what the FBI actually CLAIM to have established:

By Karen Gullo, The Associated Press

THE FBI released photos Thursday of the 19 suspected suicide hijackers with a plea for citizens to help with identities of some that are still in doubt. Director Robert Mueller said some [only now do we get "some"] attackers had been linked to Osama bin Laden's network. [But he does not say how and to what extent, and we only have his word for it].

Separately, more arrests were made of Middle Eastern men who obtained bogus licenses to haul hazardous materials. The FBI said those men were not connected to the hijackers, who crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

[Note "the FBI said", which is the only source throughout this story and so much of the "information" presented by the media since the attacks, and the FBI is an organisation you can trust, of course, as we saw after the Kennedy assassination when they covered up the murder of a President and pointed the finger at Lee Harvey Oswald who could not possibly have fired the fatal bullets].

The FBI isn't certain about the identities of all the hijackers. [Then how on earth can they be so definite about links to bin Laden?].

``It is our hope that the release of these photos will prompt others who may have seen the hijackers to contact the FBI with any information they may have that would be helpful to the investigation,'' said Attorney General John Ashcroft [another man you could trust to sell you a used car!].

The release of the photos, which come from passports, driver's licenses and other documents identified with the hijackers, marked a change for authorities, who until now have kept them under wraps so that potential witnesses and others shown the photos get a fresh look at the men.

[So does this mean that the FBI have now interviewed all potential witnesses, then? What, already?].

Mueller said the FBI believes the names and photographs match those on the manifests of the hijacked planes. But questions remain about whether those are the true names of the hijackers.

[If they say they are not certain that these are the true names of the hi-jackers, how can the FBI be so sure of a link at this stage from the hi-jackers to bin Laden?].

``What we are currently doing is determining whether, when these individuals came to the United States, these were their real names or they changed their names for use with false identification in the United States,'' said Mueller.

[And telling us they are linked to bin Laden before they have done any of this!!].

He said there was evidence that one or more of the hijackers [note the use now of the term "one" now] had had contacts with al-Qaida, the network associated bin Laden. He declined to be more specific. [I bet he did - but we still have the headline: FBI Links Hi-Jackers to bin Laden"].

Manipulation by headline, whether intended or otherwise, is a major means of distorting "information". Any other examples you see would be most welcome.

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