Journalism and cycling

buffalo

Hurrache wrote: »

You've don't know what you've been missing! Professional contrarian, bull****ter and loud mouth. He's only brought onto radio shows to generate money from all the angry text messages.

Tombo2001

Duffryman wrote: »

The article is about the weather forecast.

Yes, one paragraph out of ten is about AA Roadwatch advice to motorists. But that doesn't mean it's an article about motorists taking care. It's not an article about homelessness either, despite that being mentioned at the end of it too.

Yes - but why use a cyclist.

Why use a cyclist in an image to denote risky behaviour? When the type of risky behaviour in question is far more likely to involve a motorist.

The comments below the article (on Facebook) largely refer to the risky behaviour of the cyclist in the picture, rather than the article itself.

Tombo2001

Mods - I know this sounds a bit daft - but would it be an idea to document each major news separately regarding their treatment of cyclists.

Take the Irish Times for example. Two weeks ago, they are doing an article on discos - they includes a completely needless dig at cyclists breaking lights. Today they run a feature on icey roads - they show a photo of something you would rarely if ever see - a cyclists on a snowy mountain road.

Would it be possible to have a separate thread just for the Irish Times and Cyclists - so it act as a document of how that organisation is treating cyclists.....and the same for newstalk, the same for rte?

Duffryman

Right, I know people here don't like it when somebody says this, but you really are reading too much into it.

The picture is not to denote risky behaviour. It's to illustrate what the headline, story, and caption quite clearly say - that snow and icy conditions are expected. There just happens to be a cyclist in the picture. It could as easily have been a car, van, lorry, pedestrian, child building a snowman, or anything else.

So why a picture of a cyclist? I don't know. Could quite simply be a case of the picture editor putting the keywords 'snow' and 'ice' into their search function, and that being one of the first pics that popped up. And then they thought 'that'll do', because they had to go find pictures for who knows how many other stories too. It really could be that simple. Not everything has an ulterior motive.

Hadn't looked at the Facebook page until I saw you mention it there. There are just six comments right now. Only three are critical of the cyclist. It's hardly a huge outpouring of condemnation.

Tombo2001

Duffryman wrote: »

Right, I know people here don't like it when somebody says this, but you really are reading too much into it.

The picture is not to denote risky behaviour. It's to illustrate what the headline, story, and caption quite clearly say - that snow and icy conditions are expected. There just happens to be a cyclist in the picture. It could as easily have been a car, van, lorry, pedestrian, child building a snowman, or anything else.

So why a picture of a cyclist? I don't know. Could quite simply be a case of the picture editor putting the keywords 'snow' and 'ice' into their search function, and that being one of the first pics that popped up. And then they thought 'that'll do', because they had to go find pictures for who knows how many other stories too. It really could be that simple. Not everything has an ulterior motive.

Hadn't looked at the Facebook page until I saw you mention it there. There are just six comments right now. Only three are critical of the cyclist. It's hardly a huge outpouring of condemnation.

This is an opinion. Yours is different to mine. You wont change your opinion, I wont change mine - so I will leave it at that.

Duffryman

Tombo2001 wrote: »

This is an opinion. Yours is different to mine. You wont change your opinion, I wont change mine - so I will leave it at that.

I'm quite open to changing my opinion on many things, if presented with new and facts and evidence, or a convincing argument to the contrary of what I initially thought. But you're right, I won't change it here....because then we'd both be wrong.

CramCycle

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Mods - I know this sounds a bit daft - but would it be an idea to document each major news separately regarding their treatment of cyclists.

Take the Irish Times for example. Two weeks ago, they are doing an article on discos - they includes a completely needless dig at cyclists breaking lights. Today they run a feature on icey roads - they show a photo of something you would rarely if ever see - a cyclists on a snowy mountain road.

Would it be possible to have a separate thread just for the Irish Times and Cyclists - so it act as a document of how that organisation is treating cyclists.....and the same for newstalk, the same for rte?

MOD VOICE: TBH, it sounds like more work than its worth with three threads instead of one. Your free to do it but to be honest, I imagine they will all just be merged into one very shortly afterwards.

snailsong

If the Times ran an article on rising crime figures and chose to illustrate it with a picture of a group of young black men they'd be rightly called out. But they wouldn't do that.

magicbastarder

FWIW, i have no issue whatsoever with the use of the photo. they probably wanted something more interesting looking than a car on an icy road. helps normalise cycling as something you can do in all weathers really.
it's just a weather article illustrated with an image of 'here's someone out in the cold'.

Chips Lovell

Sometimes a man on a bike is just a man on a bike.

magicbastarder

someone from the IT reading this thread would probably be thinking 'jaysus, damned if you do, damned if you don't'.

CramCycle

They really should have just had that lad from the RTE news on it, with a youtube link. Easy and relatable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3vVDUuC0yw

magicbastarder

Tombo2001 wrote: »

The comments below the article (on Facebook) largely refer to the risky behaviour of the cyclist in the picture, rather than the article itself.

two out of seven.

buffalo

magicbastarder wrote: »

someone from the IT reading this thread would probably be thinking 'jaysus, damned if you do, damned if you don't'.

I was thinking it's great to see a man on a bike in the paper!

Duffryman

snailsong wrote: »

If the Times ran an article on rising crime figures and chose to illustrate it with a picture of a group of young black men they'd be rightly called out. But they wouldn't do that.

Yes, but again, this wasn't a story about risky behaviour on the roads. This was a story about the weather forecast for the next few days.

The fact that the picture was of a cyclist on a snowy road rather than anything or anybody else to do with snow was purely incidental. Good to see that at least some others here can see that too.

Dowee

Duffryman wrote: »

Yes, but again, this wasn't a story about risky behaviour on the roads. This was a story about the weather forecast for the next few days.

The fact that the picture was of a cyclist on a snowy road rather than anything or anybody else to do with snow was purely incidental. Good to see that at least some others here can see that too.

Without getting into the wider discussion I'd like to highlight that the headline and sub-headline (probably the wrong term) read:

"Snow, ice and freezing temperatures forecast for the weekend
Slippery conditions reported on roads on Friday as drivers advised to reduce speed"

The article is about the weather and how that relates to driver safety / behaviour on the roads. It is not just an article about the weather forecast.

Tombo2001

magicbastarder wrote: »

FWIW, i have no issue whatsoever with the use of the photo. they probably wanted something more interesting looking than a car on an icy road. helps normalise cycling as something you can do in all weathers really.
it's just a weather article illustrated with an image of 'here's someone out in the cold'.

Its not just a weather article.

It is very clearly an article saying that road conditions will be dangerous due to cold weather; and advising road users (drivers) to be more conservative.


Sub Heading: Slippery conditions reported on roads on Friday as drivers advised to reduce speed.

Excerpt: Slippery conditions have been reported on Friday morning around Letterkenny, Sligo Town, Castlebar, Carrick-on-Shannon, Mullingar, Longford Town, Monaghan Town and Cavan Towns, as well as on higher ground in Wicklow, according to AA Roadwatch.

Motorists are advised to take particular care on secondary and local routes and on higher ground due to the risk of lingering ice and frost. Drivers should slow down in affected areas, as stopping distances are about 10 times longer on icy surfaces, AA Roadwatch said.


And this is accompanied by a photo of a cyclist on an icey mountain road, demonstrating what is considered 'risky' behaviour as clearly shown by the facebook comments in response.

Ferris

Interesting article in the Guardian about what the the potential return on investment would have been from the scrapped HS2 cycleway in the UK - up to five times greater than the HS2 railway.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2019/feb/01/scrapped-hs2-bike-path-could-have-reaped-five-times-more-than-hs2-itself

Bus Connects anyone?

jjpep

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/cyclists-share-videos-as-they-feel-let-down-by-gardaí-1.3778760?mode=amp

Article in the it about the gardai Twitter contraversey.

magicbastarder

CramCycle wrote: »

They make Newstalk look fair and reasonable.

harder to do that now.
https://twitter.com/NewstalkFM/status/1091386957677109253

jjpep

magicbastarder wrote: »

harder to do that now.
https://twitter.com/NewstalkFM/status/1091386957677109253

Newstalk really is the pits. They just can't do politics without going to the gutter. Shame, because the sports stuff they so is fine.

tomasrojo

Ray Bloody Purchase wrote: »

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/winter-ready-how-to-stay-safe-when-temperatures-plummet-37765460.html

Motorcyclists / Cyclists should not compromise their safety by their ‘need’ to travel in icy/snow conditions. Cancel your journey or take alternative transport.

The RSA
He's ignored
Action is
His reward:

https://twitter.com/Bicicleto_ZGZ/status/1091782437246517248

tomasrojo

jjpep wrote: »

Newstalk really is the pits. They just can't do politics without going to the gutter. Shame, because the sports stuff they so is fine.

https://twitter.com/MallowNews/status/1091639025734176769

cjt156

tomasrojo wrote: »

Spiderman fella up on his fixie.

https://twitter.com/Bicicleto_ZGZ/status/1091782437246517248

Did he borrow Ant-Man's bike?

aldark

Ferris wrote: »

Interesting article in the Guardian about what the the potential return on investment would have been from the scrapped HS2 cycleway in the UK - up to five times greater than the HS2 railway.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2019/feb/01/scrapped-hs2-bike-path-could-have-reaped-five-times-more-than-hs2-itself

Bus Connects anyone?

bus connects is for buses. the cycle bit is is ornamental only. that hs2 scheme looked great - a dedicated cycle only road alongside a railroad

magicbastarder

it's a blog rather than a journalistic article, but did throw up this useful graphic:



https://florentcrivello.com/index.php/2019/01/28/five-promises-of-micromobility/

homer911

The UCD student who died in Texas recently was apparently going the wrong way down a one way street on an electric scooter and was struck by an oncoming car. Reported in the indo but not the reason why.. Very sad, be sensible on those things please..

mr spuckler

for those who haven't seen these new Live Drive updates on Twitter

https://twitter.com/LiveDrive/status/1092719600092016640

What Username Guidelines

mr spuckler wrote: »

for those who haven't seen these new Live Drive updates on Twitter

https://twitter.com/LiveDrive/status/1092719600092016640

How anyone can sit in their car for that distance for 32 minutes is completely beyond me. In 32 minutes I get from firhouse to the IFSC and would probably be changed and heading to my desk. I understand some people need their cars for work, but I’d hazard a guess that the majority of cars in that queue are gonna be parked up for the day.

mr spuckler

What Username Guidelines wrote: »

How anyone can sit in their car for that distance for 32 minutes is completely beyond me. In 32 minutes I get from firhouse to the IFSC and would probably be changed and heading to my desk. I understand some people need their cars for work, but I’d hazard a guess that the majority of cars in that queue are gonna be parked up for the day.

agreed - it seems like absolute madness. and so many of those people are driving relatively short distances that could easily be done by bike / e-bike / public transport.
the predictability of my commuting time is amazing and I can't imagine a scenario where you roll the dice on that every time you start your journey.