Well according to The Age newspaper anyway!
At around 1 min 40 into this (+ 30 seconds with the offensive ad);-) we find Australia has a new bird and apparently (they’re) breeding.
Video – Thousands of birds nest up in the Murray Darling – The Age
http://media.theage.com.au/thousands-of-birds-nest-up-in-the-murray-darling-2030504.html
Let’s all nip out and make the Common Crane welcome to Australia. Thanks to The Age newspaper and Fairfax Media for finding them. Maybe we can all send Fairfax and the journo a note to thank them;-)
Best
Alan
PS Why do journalists / newspapers publish inaccuracies? Oh I know, it must be to get extra publicity – well that’s all I can think of; not sure they’re this stupid really 😉
Alan
******************************************************************************* Alan McBride, MBO.
Photojournalist | Writer | Traveller | + Member: Australian Photographic Society Travel Writers Association – Board of Directors American Writers & Artists Inc. International Travel Writers & Photographers Alliance National Association of Independent Writers & Editors Travelwriters . com Travcom New Zealand Regional Representative Australia: Neotropical Bird Club
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Dear Shirley,
It is a cost cutting measure. Capitals use more ink.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
Dear all,
My local paper The Armidale Express is pretty good about reporting my monthly notices/reports. Howeever, they INVARIABLY remove my capital letters for bird names!
Shirley Cook Secretary/Treasurer Birds Australia – Northern NSW Group
Dear all,
My local paper The Armidale Express is pretty good about reporting my monthly notices/reports. Howeever, they INVARIABLY remove my capital letters for bird names!
Shirley Cook Secretary/Treasurer Birds Australia – Northern NSW Group
The picture of Common Cranes (which is a still not a moving shot) is there but the commentary at that point clearly says “Straw Necked Ibis”, but it may have been fixed since it was originally posted? Or is this a case where a colloquial name has been mixed up with the real birds – herons are referred to as cranes in parts of the country aren’t they? Perhaps somebody heard “cranes” and went and found a picture of the real thing (ie put 2 + 2 together and got 5)? Cheers Tom Wilson
Well, what a sorry state of affairs.
At least here in Gloucester, mid-north coast NSW, when I email copy to our local paper, the Gloucester Advocate, they usually paste it straight into their copy so, unless I have had to change something, usually due to shortage of space, any errors are likely to be mine!
However I frequently see birds misidentified in the Sydney Morning Herald. I suppose any news is better than none.
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I agree, Chris, and I write as an ex-journalist. Denise
on 8/11/10 1:04 PM, Chris Sanderson at chris.sanderson@gmail.com wrote:
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I, too, work for an organisation that spends a lot of effort feeding facts and stories to the media. We’ve even had to do media wrangling training here (the big learning for the company was that they must never, ever, put me in front of a camera).
I think there’s an amount of tolerance required for journalists. You do have to spend a lot of time making sure they have the pertinent facts that support the story, but apart from these, the rest is “nice to haves”. The person who trained me kept talking about “A points” and “B points”. The A points you can’t let the journalist off the phone until he’s recited these back to you clearly, from his own notes, as these are critical to the story. The B points are simply illustrations, and if there’s going to be any errors (and there will be) these are the ones you can sacrifice.
The A point here is that birds are nesting in great numbers. The exact species of bird was clearly a B point, so the precise ID isn’t crucial.
Bill
I have worked many times with serious journalists who research matters and don’t get things wrong. The BBC have a policy where all facts have to go via at least two (maybe three) independent people before being used. They also have a policy on articles being read and queried prior to publication, by anyone quoted within. Where I have worked with good journalists, such as alongside WWF on Montara last year, they are very careful to report the facts and not to sensationalise. I have to say, such journalists tend to be in the minority and many seem to be employed by The Australian. But for the time being, we live in a world of quantity, not quality. To change things, we have to stop reading the drivel.
All the best,
Simon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simon Mustoe Tel: +61 (0) 405220830 | Skype simonmustoe | Email simonmustoe@ecology-solutions.com.au
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Then there was the time I was to be interviewed in the mangroves by ABC television reporters on the Chestnut Rail. Somehow it ended up being a piece on mining (of uranium, if I remember correctly).
However, it was a hoot. Imagine a presenter dressed in a white suit in the mangroves. If that wasn’t crazy enough, her miniskirt was so tight that she couldn’t part her knees to clamber over the prop roots.
Still, in spite of the ruckus, the whole crew got to see the rail! Denise
on 8/11/10 12:50 PM, Jill Dening at jdening@bigpond.com wrote:
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Chris,
Before I retired, I worked for what was then NSW Agriculture. One of my roles was to write press releases for the local papers about various matters. After several years I gave up, as all too frequently, clearly written press releases (we always had to use a Flesch readability level of an 10-11 year in our releases), ended up so mangled in the resulting newspaper article that I had trouble believing that it was based on what I had written.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
Hi all,
I’m sure many of us have had our own experiences with the media getting things wrong, but I guess I’d like to chip in a small defense of journalists, who are often asked to cover stories about issues they know nothing about and expected to be instant experts. It is also important to note that what a journo sends to their editor often only ends up bearing a passing resemblance to what is actually printed, so many of the mistakes that creep into articles may actually occur in post-production through the hands of someone who didn’t even create the source material.
Having said that there are few things more frustrating than being misquoted or having a small but important fact or detail mangled in an article when some basic fact-checking by the author could have prevented the error.
Regards, Chris
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Hi all,
I’m sure many of us have had our own experiences with the media getting things wrong, but I guess I’d like to chip in a small defense of journalists, who are often asked to cover stories about issues they know nothing about and expected to be instant experts. It is also important to note that what a journo sends to their editor often only ends up bearing a passing resemblance to what is actually printed, so many of the mistakes that creep into articles may actually occur in post-production through the hands of someone who didn’t even create the source material.
Having said that there are few things more frustrating than being misquoted or having a small but important fact or detail mangled in an article when some basic fact-checking by the author could have prevented the error.
Regards, Chris
href=”mailto:birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au”>birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au href=”mailto:birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au”>birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au href=”mailto:birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au”>birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au ============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) href=”mailto:birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au”>birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
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Alan,
I’ve been interviewed on many occasions by the local Sunshine Coast media about local shorebird matters, and on every occasion but one they have got vital things wrong. And I always take the trouble to explain the difficult details. I’d say on that basis that there’d have to be something out of kilter with a very large number of stories in the general media. I especially wonder about this when I am reading the business news, because it takes a bit of time and intellect to get your head around economic and business news.
I used to wonder if my colleagues reading the stories quoting me thought I really said what is reported. Now I couldn’t give a toss: nothing to be done about it.
Jill Dening Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51′ 41″S 152° 56′ 00″E
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My favourite piece of non-applicable bird-information in PR* was a spiel about the alleged eco-friendliness of a housing development that had obviously been cut and pasted from a North American development. It promised nesting boxes for woodpeckers.
I wonder, if they did get around to putting them up, what nested in them!
* I regard most media output as PR, not news.
John Leonard
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They are mostly stupid in my opinion Alan, but by far it is that they are ignorant of the facts and can not make the effort to find out. Obviously they don’t realize that there are a whole population of birdwatchers out there reading their stories and thinking “what idiots” otherwise they would get it right.
I just watched the video twice and couldnt hear any reference to Common Crane made.? There was another bit of misinformation though when the voice over woman refered to “the rest of creation”.
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Oh Alan,
Surely you must know that the prime rule of tabloid journalism is never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
Well according to The Age newspaper anyway!
At around 1 min 40 into this (+ 30 seconds with the offensive ad);-) we find Australia has a new bird and apparently (they’re) breeding.
Video – Thousands of birds nest up in the Murray Darling – The Age
http://media.theage.com.au/thousands-of-birds-nest-up-in-the-murray-darling-2030504.html
Let’s all nip out and make the Common Crane welcome to Australia. Thanks to The Age newspaper and Fairfax Media for finding them. Maybe we can all send Fairfax and the journo a note to thank them;-)
Best
Alan
PS Why do journalists / newspapers publish inaccuracies? Oh I know, it must be to get extra publicity – well that’s all I can think of; not sure they’re this stupid really 😉
Alan
******************************************************************************* Alan McBride, MBO.
Photojournalist | Writer | Traveller | + Member: Australian Photographic Society Travel Writers Association – Board of Directors American Writers & Artists Inc. International Travel Writers & Photographers Alliance National Association of Independent Writers & Editors Travelwriters . com Travcom New Zealand Regional Representative Australia: Neotropical Bird Club
http://web.me.com/amcbride1 http://www.wildiaries.com http://www.worldreviewer.com/member/alanmcbride/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanmcbride http://www.twitter.com/alanmcbride
Good planets are hard to find; until we do, please, be green and read from the screen
Tel: + 61 419 414 860 Fax: + 61 2 9973 2306 Skype: mcbird101
P O Box 190 | Newport Beach | NSW 2106 | Australia
This e-mail and any files transmitted with it, are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender. This e-mail is also subject to copyright. No part of it should be reproduced, adapted or transmitted without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.
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