Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Modern media is rubbish #5: how to misrepresent the uSwitch broadband survey 2010

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 […]

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Modern media is rubbish #4: how to headline the latest drugs hysteria

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 […]

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Modern media is rubbish #3: how to mangle social networking stats

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 – […]

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

Modern media is rubbish #2: the Toyota hoax

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 […]

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Modern media is rubbish #1: two examples

Yesterday’s “news” carried two items that should have been shocking in their inability to separate hysteria and PR puffery from proper reporting. If that wasn’t really what the modern media is all about. The stories are from supposedly opposite corners of the media ring – one super serious, the other light-hearted. Each is crap in […]