From early this month (because it’s been knocking around the house and I’ve only just got around to glancing at it before I put it in the recycling bin) – here’s the Guardian Money report on uSwitch’s annual broadband satisfaction survey. What’s wrong with this piece of simple reportage? It couldn’t be simpler, really. In […]
“Faze”: “to cause to be disturbed or disconcerted”. As in: the journalism lecturer was seldom fazed by the constant mis-spellings and poor grammar of his students. “Phase”: “a stage in a process of change or development”. As in: she wanted to work in the media, but luckily it was just a phase she was going through. This pairing can be a bit of a puzzle, but don’t be fazed. […]
This one’s aimed at sub-editors again – or whoever overruled the sub who may have objected to this dreadful headline in today’s Metro. Drug death student took meow meow Well – that’s clear enough, surely? Some hard-partying student took the narcotic du jour and it killed her. Make it illegal quickly and with little rational […]
Spotted twice yesterday in papers that should know better – two stories baring the writer’s ignorance of simple English. The London Standard story This isn’t just a decline … it’s a Marks and Spencer decline noted: The store front is fading and a little grotty. The shop sign seems left over from the Fifties, baring […]
According to most of the media today: Malcolm McLaren dies at the age of 64 after a long battle with cancer Apparently it was diagnosed six months ago. Six months is not a “long battle”. It’s actually quite short. Also – what the hell cancer was it anyway? Every account I’ve read says “a rare form”. I’m curious […]
Not quite in the Modern Media is Rubbish league, but still an interesting example of how journalism, even when it’s mostly factually accurate, still manages to misrepresent the world it reports on. From the Financial Times Weekend Magazine comes a photo essay on How modern Britain spends its Sundays, complete with a potted summary by […]
Caught yesterday in the Metro – a brief news report on a social networking survey by InSites (ugh) Consulting. As reported in Metro: 77% of UK internet users use social networking sites 42% of UK internet users use Twitter 50% of UK internet users use Facebook Let’s look at those numbers, shall we? First – […]
Here’s a nice exchange on this morning’s Today programme on Radio 4 between Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) chief executive Guy Parker and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband. The ASA has ruled that Government advertisements on climate change were exaggerated – specifically that they made definitive predictions about future weather effects that could not yet be proved. […]
Here’s a nice dissection on the Forbes web site of a Toyota Prius accelerator fault hoax that has hit US news media. Apparently, James Sikes was driving a Toyota Prius in California when the accelerator jammed – the same fault that is said to have caused the death of a family in a Lexus and […]
#newsrw Lots of excitement was generated by Telegraph digital media chief Greg Hadfield’s resignation announcement at news:rewired. But of all those tiresome bloggers and not-real-journalists Tweeting and wittering about the event – who was it who reported and got the facts wrong? Oh, yes. Roy Greenslade. In the Guardian. You know, one of those purveyors […]