Tag Archive for 'journalism'

Seriously, journalists?

Published by bcg on 6 April 2010 in Current Affairs. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

After my recent post about journalism, I was surprised to read this. It was made worse by the Daily Mail (of course). The Mail's article says:

But now, to the horror of the purists, the game's makers are throwing out the old rule book and allowing proper nouns.

Worse still, not only will the names of places, trademarks and people be permissible, but even words spelled backwards or placed unconnected to other pieces.

Now, it seems that actually this is what's actually going on:

Mattel, which owns the rights to Scrabble in England, is going to release a completely new version of the game there called Scrabble Trickster, in which anything goes, including the use of proper nouns, spelling words backwards, stealing letters, and so on.

No 'throwing out the old rule book' after all then.

Thanks to CNET for sorting out the problem. Shame on the BBC for shocking reporting – it relegates the the true story almost to the end of the article:

[Mattel] will continue to sell a board with the original rules.

Service for Burglars?!

Published by bcg on 4 April 2010 in Current Affairs and Sci & Tech. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Compare these two press reports very carefully.  The first report is the original, from the Telegraph, the second was reported subsequently by V3.

The company interviewed 1,317 people – 57 per cent of which described the street mapping service an ‘intrusion' while 24 per cent said that they believed it was simply ‘a service for burglars’.

Seventy-three per cent of the people polled who called the service an ‘intrusion’ said that they were most angered by the fact they have not given permission for the publishing of images.

Just over a third of those interviewed believe that the expansion of the service, which rolled out yesterday, was a positive move.

Street View Concerns

According to the report 57 per cent of those interviewed described the service an ‘intrusion' while 24 per cent said that they believed it was ‘a service for burglars’. A staggering seventy-three per cent labeled the service an ‘intrusion’ and said that they were most angered by the fact they have not given permission for the publishing of images.

Just over a third said they thought the expansion of the service, announced on Thursday, was a positive thing.

Street View Slammed

Is it me or is that really bad journalism by V3?!

‘Churches back plan to unite under Pope’

Published by bcg on 19 February 2007 in Church. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Today in The Times I was somewhat shocked to read the front-page headline: 'Churches back plan to unite under Pope. It seemed from the article that at some point in the next few months there was a real chance that the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches might unite.

This, of course, is not the case. The Anglican Communion News Service released the following statement:

Clarifications etc.

The statement makes clear that the document in question, Growing Together in Unity and Mission is 'an attempt to synthesize the work of ARCIC (the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission) over the past 35 years.'

So unity isn't imminent, then! The document 'identifies the level of agreement which has been reached by ARCIC, but is also very clear in identifying ongoing areas of disagreement, and in raising questions which still need to be addressed in dialogue.'

Today was obviously a slow day for the news men at The Times. But there is no excuse for such sensationalism. It's tabloid journalism, certainly not what you'd expect from The Times. It could even be seen as dishonest, deliberately mis-reporting (if that's a word) a fairly unsensational document.

I shall let the press release have the last word:

'It is unfortunate that [the] contents [of the document] have been prematurely reported in a way which misrepresents its intentions and sensationalises its conclusions.'

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