What kind of reductionist and minimising heading is this?

[NothankyouNigel]

“Man gives partner brain bleed”. Like it’s some sort of gift. You wouldn’t ever see ‘man gives man broken leg’ or ‘man gives man broken jaw’ ffs. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was reading this morning.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqxjzwed0qjo

Headline not heading. Hadn’t had my coffee yet!

We all need to write & complain.

Indeed they'd use language like assault or attack.
"Man assaults man, causing brain bleed"

That is absolutely bloody appalling. Thank you for highlighting it.

Yep, that is awful.

I have sent a complaint. Will pass on the response when I get it…

Compare and contrast the description of his earlier attack on a “friend”.

“He was previously sentenced to ten years in jail in 2013 after he struck his friend on the head with a screwdriver.”

Complaint made.

Agree that is a terrible headline. But I think that it is the result of a clumsy attempt to get 'brain bleed' into the headline, rather than a result of sexist minimising.
If you break someone's leg there is an obvious verb to use - "Man breaks partner's leg". And the subeditor or whoever clearly wanted to apply the same formula here. But there isn't an appropriate verb for the same formula in relation to a brain bleed ("Man [??] partner's brain "). So a longer formula would have been needed - eg "man punches partner causing brain bleed".
Because the editor also wanted to get the fact of prison release into the headline, that longer formula would have resulted in a very clunky headline (eg "man punches partner causing brain bleed after release from prison".)
Clearly they didn't think hard enough from scratch to find a better solution. But I'd still put this down to poor editorial skills rather than sexist minimising.

There are other ways of doing it, though. There's enough space to write something like "Man released from jail hits partner so hard that he causes a brain bleed".

I have submitted a complaint.

There isn't a named person who wrote the article so I'm guessing it's computer generated.
And whilst I agree that editors are looking for catchy headlines there are far better ways of achieving that. It's lazy at best, indifferent at worst.

Here is their reply.

Thanks for contacting us with your comments regarding the following BBC News article:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqxjzwed0qjo - Man gives partner brain bleed after release from jail

We’re sorry to note how you view this article and its headline, which is reporting on proceedings at Glasgow Sheriff Court where Gary Lindsay was found guilty of assaulting his partner “to her severe injury and danger of life”.

We are, however, satisfied with the accuracy and appropriateness of the article and its headline. We also, respectfully, can’t agree that the piece, in any way, minimises violence again women.

Thank you again for your feedback which we value. Complaints are sent to senior management and we’ve included your points in our overnight reports. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC. This ensures that your concerns have been seen by the right people and helps to inform decisions about current and future content.

They could simply have written “inflicts” instead of “gives.”

'Gives' surely only applies to something contagious:

"Man gives partner chicken pox"

I’ve just finished a 12 hour shift so will be submitting my own complaint later. Thanks to all who complained and to 334bu who posted their response. Which has infuriated me even more. The piece might not minimise violence but by goodness, the headline really does.

As YellowAsteroid says there are clearer ways of describing what happened. Inflicts, attacked causing brain bleed, assaulted causing brain bleed etc.

Isn’t it a bit like giving someone a black eye? It’s fairly obvious it means caused, rather than given as a gift.

I am seriously considering not renewing my TV license next year. I am beyond appalled by the misogyny of the BBC.

Yeah, I think so.

It sounds awkward, but I don't think it's sexist.

Or 'causes brain bleed in partner'

Finally got a response:

I can assure you that BBC News always aims for the highest standards when reporting, and we aim to include accurate, impartial and comprehensive information likely to be of interest to our readers.

Headlines are necessarily concise, and can't convey every aspect of a story. However, the main article does clearly explain what happened, reporting 'A man convicted of attempted murder has been found guilty of attacking his partner while he was out on licence, leaving her in intensive care. Gary Lindsay, 45, repeatedly struck the woman causing a bleed to her brain at a property in Blairdardie, Glasgow in February 2022.'

We very much value your feedback. Complaints are sent to senior management and we’ve included your points in our overnight reports. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC. This ensures that your concerns have been seen by the right people quickly, and helps to inform decisions about current and future content.

If you’d like to understand how your complaint is handled at the BBC, you might find it helpful to watch this short film https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints. It explains the BBC’s process for responding to complaints and how we share the feedback we receive.

Kind regards

Darren Loughlin

BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints 

So not completely dismissive…

"Man causes brain bleed in partner after release from jail"?

Cross posted.
Shows that they didn't make any effort, though, doesn't it?