Media screws up again...

"gatt" wrote in message
...

Everybody trash talks journalists for not knowing as much as they do about
whatever field of expertise they are in. See my point? Yet they still
read the papers, still watch the news...


Yeah, but I read the papers and watch the news with the knowledge the
reporter probably got it wrong.



Yeah, and so is flying.


Lousy pilots weed themselves out eventually. Lousy reporters keep on
reporting.



Have any of you written reporters to correct them, or do you just
complain?


I write frequently, I sometimes receive a response, I have yet to see a
correction in print. Getting the story is far more important than getting
the story right. That's the state of journalism today.

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
nk.net...

"gatt" wrote in message
...

Are their deadlines measured in hours or minutes like pressroom
reporters
are?


I've often wondered why getting the story first trumped getting the story
right.

Form over substance?

Early bird gets the worm?

Firstest with the mostest?

(I wonder what gatt will have to say about my use of clichés.)

If it isn't accurate, it's not NEWS...it's barely EDITORIAL.

(At least they didn't blow up the plane to make a headline, like one network
did with pickup trucks)

"Rich Ahrens" wrote in message
isi.com...

You know, if you reread the story, you'll see that it appears it wasn't
the reporter who made the error:

"Flight simulator technician Scott McKenna of Platteville said he saw
the plane appear to descend for an emergency landing when it slowed down
too much and the wing dipped. The pilot overcorrected and the engine
stalled, he said. The plane headed nose down, cartwheeled and landed on
its belly, McKenna said."

Assuming the attribution is correct, it was the source who got it wrong.


So what? It's still the reporter's responsibility to get the story right

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
nk.net...

"gatt" wrote in message
...


Have any of you written reporters to correct them, or do you just
complain?


I write frequently, I sometimes receive a response, I have yet to see a
correction in print. Getting the story is far more important than getting
the story right. That's the state of journalism today.

And that's why so many say the "news" and "entertainment" are so close as to
be indistinguishable. See Michael Moore for a example.

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
I've often wondered why getting the story first trumped getting the
story right.

Because they're rewarded by the readers/viewers for getting it first,
for one thing. Not that the trade-off described is consciously made as
often as some would have you believe.

Tom Sixkiller wrote:

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in
message nk.net...

"gatt" wrote in message
...


Have any of you written reporters to correct them, or do you just
complain?

I write frequently, I sometimes receive a response, I have yet to
see a correction in print. Getting the story is far more important
than getting the story right. That's the state of journalism
today.


And that's why so many say the "news" and "entertainment" are so
close as to be indistinguishable. See Michael Moore for a example.

Or pretty much anything on Fox...

I've often wondered why getting the story first trumped getting the story
right.


It's what people pay for.

Jose


--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

gatt wrote:

It's interesting hearing comments from people who say that anybody can be a
journalist, who themselves don't even have a high school-level grasp of
their own language. There is no apostrophe in "its major fault." "It's"
is a contraction of "it is."

So, if the subject were to be targetted
accurately it should read "Aviation industry screws up again," which makes
about as much sense.

Would a real-life journalist know the difference between "targeted" and
"targetted", or how to use a spell-checker?

All we ask from our reporters is a high school level of understanding of the
world around them, which is easily achieved before the story exists and has
nothing to do with deadline pressures.



Jack

in article t, Steven P.
McNicoll at wrote on 6/10/04 7:31 PM:

Getting the story is far more important than getting
the story right. That's the state of journalism today.

I really doubt that it's ever been different. As William Randolph Hearst
told one of his photographers over a hundred years ago, "You supply the
pictures, I'll supply the war".

"Philip Sondericker" wrote in message
...
in article t, Steven P.
McNicoll at wrote on 6/10/04 7:31 PM:

Getting the story is far more important than getting
the story right. That's the state of journalism today.

I really doubt that it's ever been different. As William Randolph Hearst
told one of his photographers over a hundred years ago, "You supply the
pictures, I'll supply the war".


Hearst was the entire newspaper industry?