ozpharlap Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 My apologies, my father and sister and others in the family were Journos, but the standard these days is appalling. Captioning a photo of a leopard as a tiger... Calling a catamaran a mono hull... Complete inability to understand anything remotely to do with science, or numbers, or logic... these and other things issuing forth from the minds of paid journos are the things I rail against. Have to agree with you 100% on that You can add in news commentators, current affair hosts, day show hosts etc ... It is due to their inability to even string a coherent sentence together that these showbiz people cannot ask good questioning or provide clever retorts to answers given. This also has given rise to the increase in so called media entertainment news, talking to banal musicians/actors/real life stars because they are all as dumb as each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 I am horrified by the some of the atrocious English I see in the press these days. Doesn't anyone learn correct grammar? I'm talking about native speakers too. I presume it is a result of the dumbing down of education of schools, the notion that everyone should feel good and not be criticised. But there is absolutely no excuse for it, since everyone now writes on a word processor. Spelling and grammar mistakes should appear underlined in red! I was a part-time editor for a Bangkok publishing house a few years ago. I had to do a considerable amount of correcting grammar, not to mention factual mistakes in the manuscripts I read - mistakes such as a character in a novel standing on the beach at Phuket and gazing at the Gulf of Thailand. p.s. What shall we bitch about next? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted August 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2011 I am horrified by the some of the atrocious English I see in the press these days. Doesn't anyone learn correct grammar? I'm talking about native speakers too. I presume it is a result of the dumbing down of education of schools, the notion that everyone should feel good and not be criticised. But there is absolutely no excuse for it, since everyone now writes on a word processor. Spelling and grammar mistakes should appear underlined in red! I was a part-time editor for a Bangkok publishing house a few years ago. I had to do a considerable amount of correcting grammar, not to mention factual mistakes in the manuscripts I read - mistakes such as a character in a novel standing on the beach at Phuket and gazing at the Gulf of Thailand. p.s. What shall we bitch about next? Flash, this is a perfectly GOOD bitch session - I'm just getting warmed up ... Today broke with the news that a *real* Aussie journo has died in a chopper crash in South Australia, and I couldnt help reflect on the irony that news of his demise is being covered by a multitude of talking heads who did their 'apprenticeship' under the desk of various news editors. And that includes the guys. http://www.news.com.au/national/helicopter-crashes-into-lake-eyre/story-e6frfkvr-1226117784627 For those not familiar with our national broadcaster, the ABC still sends reporters into warzones and slums without an infantry company for protection, and their people are paid a pittance compared to the opposition at the commercial networks. They have a track record for breaking very big corruption stories here and elsewhere, and its a sad day when someone like this departs the planet and we are left with so many illiterate muppets. While I'm venting my spleen (!), the people at the bottom of this whole sordid profession must surely be the 'entertainment reporters'. Rehashing gossip has always been a bottom-feeder gig, but Twitter has enabled these clowns to make a handsome living doing little more than passing on the ramblings of bored celebs. The sheer banality has me climbing the walls. I know - 'change the channel', right ? Better yet, turn off the TV and go for a long walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted August 19, 2011 Report Share Posted August 19, 2011 Even I recognise Lockyer's name. The best war correspondents are usually freelancers. And most of them end up killed or maimed sooner or later. It's a dangerous profession, if they do it right. I saw something of both kinds in RVN. We had Sean Flynn and Tim Page come to report on us during the 1969 siege of Dak To firebase. They broke the story - which the US Army had been concealing. Then we got the parachute types dropping in on us. They would arrive by the plane load, all dressed in camouflage fatigues which we didn't even have! They'd take a lot of photos, get a comment from a few GIS, then get the hell out of there as fast as they could. I doubt if some of them spent even an hour at Dak To. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asiafun Posted August 19, 2011 Report Share Posted August 19, 2011 Even I recognise Lockyer's name. The best war correspondents are usually freelancers. And most of them end up killed or maimed sooner or later. It's a dangerous profession, if they do it right. I saw something of both kinds in RVN. We had Sean Flynn and Tim Page come to report on us during the 1969 siege of Dak To firebase. They broke the story - which the US Army had been concealing. Then we got the parachute types dropping in on us. They would arrive by the plane load, all dressed in camouflage fatigues which we didn't even have! They'd take a lot of photos, get a comment from a few GIS, then get the hell out of there as fast as they could. I doubt if some of them spent even an hour at Dak To. No cable TV feed in this house. Internet and print only...not that it is much better. If I want TV I have to go to the local fitness club and work out!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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