Standards Of Journalism

cyrusdvirus

a couple of things have been made evident in the past couple of days, and that is that SOMETIMES (i'm not tarring all journo's) the standard of reporting is a bit lax.

Taking the Kelly's eviction for example. Instead of providing a balanced view on the situation we were told how a PENSIONER was MANHANDLED out of his FAMILY HOME, while the gardai STOOD BY and watched it happen...

(i've added the capitals for tabloid sensationalism)

We didn't hear how this pair had plenty of properties dotted around the city, we didn't hear how there was an eviction notice served on them in 2010.



Then there is the Garda involved deaths in Limerick.

GARDA with NO LICENCE and BALD tyres KILLS 2, ONLY fined €900

The 2 lads who were killed were lying/fighting on the middle of the road on an unlit section of a dual carriageway. No-one has bothered finding out if the Garda's licence recently expired, or if he never had one. They charges against him were in relation to the motoring offences, and rightly so.



Then there is the Virgin Atlantic in flight emergency during the week, where the plane had to return to Gatwick after the flight crew noticed a fire warning. All the press were on about was how the stewardesses were panicking during the evacuation to get everyone out of the plane, and how one in particular was shouting get out get out and that 14 people received injuries. Nothing about the fact that the stewardesses were following their training and their priority is to evacuate the plane before it cooks everyone on board!


Whatever happened to fair and balanced reporting??

Sky King

Occasionally I come across news reports on subjects I happen to know a lot about, (I'm sure lots of people do at some stage).

I can never get over how arseways they always manage to get their information. And the Indo is as big a culprit as the red tops. It makes me wonder how accurate the articles that I don't know lots about are.

Funny you should mention aviation, because that's one of those subjects. And I can tell you that the papers invariably get their info totally wrong.

Every propeller powered aircraft suddenly becomes a Cessna.... emergency landings become crash landings etc etc

danniemcq

despite what is said about online blogging killing journalism they are still quite good for getting a broad view quite quickly and often in a lot simpler terms.

The other option is to read the comments after stories on online paper sites. They usually create a few very good bullet point format and you can see various viewpoints quite quickly

lividduck

gatecrash wrote: »

a couple of things have been made evident in the past couple of days, and that is that SOMETIMES (i'm not tarring all journo's) the standard of reporting is a bit lax.

Taking the Kelly's eviction for example. Instead of providing a balanced view on the situation we were told how a PENSIONER was MANHANDLED out of his FAMILY HOME, while the gardai STOOD BY and watched it happen...

(i've added the capitals for tabloid sensationalism)

We didn't hear how this pair had plenty of properties dotted around the city, we didn't hear how there was an eviction notice served on them in 2010.



Then there is the Garda involved deaths in Limerick.

GARDA with NO LICENCE and BALD tyres KILLS 2, ONLY fined €900

The 2 lads who were killed were lying/fighting on the middle of the road on an unlit section of a dual carriageway. No-one has bothered finding out if the Garda's licence recently expired, or if he never had one. They charges against him were in relation to the motoring offences, and rightly so.



Then there is the Virgin Atlantic in flight emergency during the week, where the plane had to return to Gatwick after the flight crew noticed a fire warning. All the press were on about was how the stewardesses were panicking during the evacuation to get everyone out of the plane, and how one in particular was shouting get out get out and that 14 people received injuries. Nothing about the fact that the stewardesses were following their training and their priority is to evacuate the plane before it cooks everyone on board!


Whatever happened to fair and balanced reporting??

Can you provide a link to the Media outlet print or otherwise which carried that headline?



No I didn't think so!

lazygal

i always wondered who bought, read and believed the Daily Mail. Until I recently visited family and was informed that 'its the only paper that tells the truth'. A lot of people are happy to be spoon fed what they like to hear as it reconfirms what they already think. I'll admit to sometimes having a cut and dried view on something, but having been made to revise or reconsider it because of a well-written piece of journalism. I think a lot of 'news'papers are in fact entertainment papers with some current affairs thrown in, there's not a lot of money to be made out of a prolonged Woodword and Bernstein style investigation so they simply don't follow that route to get stories any more.

cyrusdvirus

lividduck wrote: »

Can you provide a link to the Media outlet print or otherwise which carried that headline?



No I didn't think so!

You saw the bit where i said i was adding the capitals for tabloid level sensationalism, yeah??

That carried through for the rest of the made up headlines I had in my post.
The fact is that no-one actually checked the background of that story. IF the Garda never had a licence, then €900 it a tad lenient. If the Garda's licence expired at 12:00am, and he was on his way home from work at 1:00am, then the fine is appropriate, if not a bit heavy handed. The fact is that the reporting enhanced the sensational aspect of it, without actually finding out the background.

lividduck

gatecrash wrote: »

You saw the bit where i said i was adding the capitals for tabloid level sensationalism, yeah??

That carried through for the rest of the made up headlines I had in my post.
The fact is that no-one actually checked the background of that story. IF the Garda never had a licence, then €900 it a tad lenient. If the Garda's licence expired at 12:00am, and he was on his way home from work at 1:00am, then the fine is appropriate, if not a bit heavy handed. The fact is that the reporting enhanced the sensational aspect of it, without actually finding out the background.

The FACT is that headline never appeared, nor did any story claiming he got away lightly, though bearing in mind he was driving a car with tyres so bald that the wire was visible many people, including myself, would consider that he got away very lightly.

foxyboxer

Reading journalistic opinion pieces is like reading Leaving Cert standard english essays with added agenda.

Sunnyisland

Sensationalist screaming headlines get more attention than calm truthful words,Good news never sold newspapers and at the end of the day that's what it is all about.Re the daily mail imo our own Papers can give them a run for there money on there inaccuracies and reporting and of course bias news.

The truth is out there you just have to look a bit futher for it :-)

foxyboxer

It's akin to creating a thread in AH. You have to grab attention.

Pussy! Inside!

is better than

A discussion of the merits of the common domestic feline.

cyrusdvirus

lividduck wrote: »

The FACT is that headline never appeared, nor did any story claiming he got away lightly, though bearing in mind he was driving a car with tyres so bald that the wire was visible many people, including myself, would consider that he got away very lightly.

Quit trying to derail the thread.

The fact is that the reporting of this story leaves too many unanswered questions.

And when i say made up headlines, that means i made them up, so well done for re-iterating what i said.

az2wp0sye65487

If they didn't use the sensationalist headlines they wouldn't sell papers.... and they would all be out of a job!

Sunnyisland

foxyboxer wrote: »

It's akin to creating a thread in AH. You have to grab attention.

Pussy! Inside!

is better than

A discussion of the merits of the common domestic feline.

:D:D

cyrusdvirus

foxyboxer wrote: »

It's akin to creating a thread in AH. You have to grab attention.

Pussy! Inside!

is better than

A discussion of the merits of the common domestic feline.

hehehe

steve9859

What strikes me about this Kelly thing is that it is just about the headline and nothing to do with the story.

Consider the alternative scenario - that the Kelly's weren't evicted and the Indo got wind of it. Imagine the headline:

"Millionaire property magnates live rent free in mansion an taxpayers expense"

instead we have

"elderly couple evicted from home" with accompanying video showing 'brutality'.

Both headlines would sell.....and the journos really don't care which it is, or which is right

Turtwig

Good journalism is merely the art of being able to write and publish something while avoiding the possibility of being sued.

Sunnyisland

Considering that the NOTW when printed and the SW are/where both top selling newspapers respectively in there countries,It shows what a lot of people want to read or look at :-)

OldGoat

Journalism finally died when Reuters stopped reporting and started editoralising instead.

5live

Sky King wrote: »

Occasionally I come across news reports on subjects I happen to know a lot about, (I'm sure lots of people do at some stage).

I can never get over how arseways they always manage to get their information. And the Indo is as big a culprit as the red tops. It makes me wonder how accurate the articles that I don't know lots about are.

Funny you should mention aviation, because that's one of those subjects. And I can tell you that the papers invariably get their info totally wrong.

Every propeller powered aircraft suddenly becomes a Cessna.... emergency landings become crash landings etc etc

I always get a good laugh when i compare newspaper headlines and the lead stories on different papers. The print, and indeed the broadcast media too, seen to want to lead the stories in a particular direction instead of actually reporting in an unbiased way. Was it always like this, irish Press pro FF and Indo pro FG or was it more nuanced

BrensBenz

Oh, my favourite topic – cr@p journoes! “….being able to write and publish something while avoiding the possibility of being sued.” Brilliant. “Free press” = free to make up whatever they please and free to ignore anything they think won’t sell.
But, in fairness, it’s not easy for hoards of them to hide behind the genuinely talented ones. And they've all passed their exams, set by their betters, by remembering the golden rules, i.e.

• Include the ages of all suspects and defendants;
• Describe them as being stone-faced;
• Mention that the Gardai are appealing for witnesses and, if you have a video camera,
• Make sure to interview the neighbour who must attest that nothing like this has ever happened around here before;
• In UK, whether the family has been informed.

Honours journalism requires:

• The scene has been closed for technical examination;
• The name of the State Pathologist and
• Sources close to……any official who may or may not exist but is extremely unlikely to ever respond.

One or two questions:

• Of the millions of things happening around the world, who decides what to report?
• What talent did he / she exhibit to be appointed to this role?
• By any chance, do Irish editors read and copy UK stories and throw in a few local yarns just to fill the gaps?

But, and it’s a big but……….WE BUY THEIR CR@P! Or, we allow it go unquestioned. So it’s our fault. Those priests and nuns were right after all. Three Our Fathers and three Hail Marys for us all.

Tom Dunne

Living in Bahrain, I am only too aware of how low standards in journalism are.

If you were to believe the current news stories, people like me are holed up in our apartments, quivering in fear while hordes of rampaging Shia protesters hurl various projectiles at an oppressive police force while the authorities round up grannies and children and subject them to the most horrendous abuse.

There's not denying there are problems in the country, but the reality is far from what the media would have you believe.

OldGoat

Tom Dunne wrote: »

There's not denying there are problems in the country, but the reality is far from what the media would have you believe.

Shall I forward that to Bernie Ecclestone for ya?

Dravokivich

From the news I've read lately (and to be honest it's getting less and less) the articles are shíte ill-informed sensationalist opinion pieces without any consideration towards what the person is writing about.

seanmc1980

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Living in Bahrain, I am only too aware of how low standards in journalism are.

If you were to believe the current news stories, people like me are holed up in our apartments, quivering in fear while hordes of rampaging Shia protesters hurl various projectiles at an oppressive police force while the authorities round up grannies and children and subject them to the most horrendous abuse.

There's not denying there are problems in the country, but the reality is far from what the media would have you believe.

Bernie???? dat u???

Tom Dunne

OldGoat wrote: »

Shall I forward that to Bernie Ecclestone for ya?

Can you hang on until he drops off that briefcase of cash?