The Irish Independent's headline conflicts with its story. (Credit: Independent.ie, screenshot, highlight added)

The Irish Independent’s headline and story clash in a Nov. 7 report about a 19-year-old named Emma Barton who was injured in a car accident.

While the headline declares “Coma girl ‘unaware she is an orphan’ after motorway smash,” the story reports that Barton is “thought to be in a coma and potentially unaware that her father and sister are among the dead.”

StinkyJournalism has written to the Independent to ask which is correct – the headline or the story — and if the newspaper will be publishing a correction or clarification to the story to consistently and accurately describe Burton’s state.