The Headline Comes After

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 16:06:20 -0700

Today’s oil coverage is a small masterpiece of narrative whiplash. Same day, same Strait of Hormuz, same underlying standoff between the US and Iran, and depending which wire you read, prices are either climbing on fear of an all-out shipping crisis or settling lower on hopes that shipping stays smooth. Nobody’s lying, exactly. Each outlet is describing a five-minute window on the tape and calling it the story. That says something about how “oil rises because X” journalism often works: the price moves first, tick by tick, algo by algo, and the headline gets assigned afterward, like a substitute teacher grading essays she didn’t watch get written.

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The Headline Comes After