The headline is usually viewed from the point of view of its perception by the audience, as it is an element of the text that organizes and optimizes the reader's understanding of information. The addressee, reading this graphically highlighted element of news, gets a compressed idea of the content of the text. At the same time, the recipient has a set of associations, assessments, judgements that form an attitude to the subject of speech. The headline is a key component of the text, which has a strong influencing potential. With the help of the headline, it is possible to manipulate the emotions and consciousness of the addressee. That is why the distortion of information that is actively used in the headlines of modern media texts deserves regular study.