There is nothing sensationalist. The flight was scrubbed. The headline didn't make any mention of the reason, the fact is literally, the flight attempt was a scrub.
It's definitely accurate to the facts, but twisted to try and paint a certain narrative given the current trends. Technically correct, the best kind of correct.
The headline could be an infinite number of ways more descriptive instead of riding on the coattails of the Boeing bash bandwagon:
"ULA scrubs launch of first crewed Boeing Starliner due to faulty valve in Atlas V."
"Boeing Starliner's first crewed mission scrubbed due to faulty valve in launch vehicle."
I call bullshit on you. It was a perfectly fine headline. That they've tied Starliner to Atlas 5 is not something that was forced on them, so Boeing and Starliner gets to own the consequences.
In case it hasn’t been obvious, Boeing has been in the news over the last few months for various airplane defects.
I fail to see how it’s unreasonable to believe a journalist wouldn’t want to utilize the negative undertones of the Boeing name here, considering this would not an unusual pattern to utilize for headline writing.
The headline could be an infinite number of ways more descriptive instead of riding on the coattails of the Boeing bash bandwagon:
"ULA scrubs launch of first crewed Boeing Starliner due to faulty valve in Atlas V."
"Boeing Starliner's first crewed mission scrubbed due to faulty valve in launch vehicle."
etc.