Aviation & journalism - two different things

[castelino009]

Just found this news article and apparently MEA has A380? hmmmm, some on ehas to get  their act together


http://www.compareaway.co.uk/news/2011/05/31/delayed-plane-causes-passenger-mutiny/

happy reading

Cheers
VJC

[castelino009]

Same story, same words, diff site and pic from Gemini jets (1/400) scale model website. So the source needs to found behind this article 


http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/passengers-mutiny-on-delayed-plane/

[ArcherII]

Well, sadly a week ago here in Argentina a SOL's Saab 340 crashed killing all 22 aboard. Watching the tv news was painful I tell you. They even put a picture of a 732Adv with SOL livery taken directly from flight Simulator! And SOL doesn't even have a 737! Also they brought their home specialist in aviation and he rambled on about the frozen carburators (?) in the turboprop.

[Kazari]

As a former journalist, I would remind you that neither of the sites you posted were reputable journalistic outlets. If this were from the BBC or the Guardian, I'd be more likely to believe it.

The first rule of journalism? Even if your mom tells you she loves you, check it out. Sourcing is everything.

That said, a lot of journalists are idiots on this sort of thing. I just don't think this is a particularly good example.

[castelino009]

As a former journalist, I would remind you that neither of the sites you posted were reputable journalistic outlets. If this were from the BBC or the Guardian, I'd be more likely to believe it.

The first rule of journalism? Even if your mom tells you she loves you, check it out. Sourcing is everything.

That said, a lot of journalists are idiots on this sort of thing. I just don't think this is a particularly good example.

I know what you are trying to say mate, I have seen even BBC and guardian making mistakes . In this particular case I agree but generally speaking most journalist's have no clue but aviation.

For best for aviation journalism

check this site: http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/
also http://www.flightglobal.com/home/default.aspx

cheers
VJC

[alexgv1]

I can never take journalists from mainstream news sites seriously because from all my experience they never have a clue what they're talking about when it comes to aviation (not that they are very desirable people anyway).

I tend to stick to aviation specific sites/journals/apps for my news such Flight Global or the Aero Post.

[slither360]

I can never take journalists from mainstream news sites seriously because from all my experience they never have a clue what they're talking about when it comes to aviation (not that they are very desirable people anyway).

I tend to stick to aviation specific sites/journals/apps for my news such Flight Global or the Aero Post.

+1

[castelino009]

I can never take journalists from mainstream news sites seriously because from all my experience they never have a clue what they're talking about when it comes to aviation (not that they are very desirable people anyway).

I tend to stick to aviation specific sites/journals/apps for my news such Flight Global or the Aero Post.

very true, but I love it when they do a mistake so we can bash them up 

[EYguy]

I know what you are trying to say mate, I have seen even BBC and guardian making mistakes . In this particular case I agree but generally speaking most journalist's have no clue but aviation.

For best for aviation journalism

check this site: http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/
also http://www.flightglobal.com/home/default.aspx

cheers
VJC

But when they make a mistake then they usually correct themselves...

[castelino009]

But when they make a mistake then they usually correct themselves...

well try to (after reading AWS and our rants )

[Kazari]

But when they make a mistake then they usually correct themselves...

That's actually another key tenet of journalism: The willingness to correct yourself.

I'd like to add that these general journalists have to report on a myriad of topics and try to be correct every time. I don't watch TV news at all because they all sound like idiots, but it's harder than you think to be a "hack of all trades" -- and the master of none.

[ACDennison]

This isn't limited to aviation - military related articles are often as bad if not worse.  If I had a quid for every time a newspaperpictured a soldiers armed with a 'machine gun' I'd be rich, ad have a lower blood pressure... I'm getting old in my late 20s! 

But seriously... how hard is it to know the difference between an assault rifle and an MG?

[Dave4468]

This isn't limited to aviation - military related articles are often as bad if not worse.  If I had a quid for every time a newspaperpictured a soldiers armed with a 'machine gun' I'd be rich, ad have a lower blood pressure... I'm getting old in my late 20s! 

But seriously... how hard is it to know the difference between an assault rifle and an MG?

Oh yea. The best one I've seen was an article where the BBC where on about a new combat thing in Afghanistan and had a little diagram showing how it worked, it was all fine until I noticed the "Taliban" man they were shooting at in the diagram had an SA80, used solely by Jamaica and the UK. 

[Kazari]

\But seriously... how hard is it to know the difference between an assault rifle and an MG?

I couldn't tell you the difference. I know the AK-47 (and its descendants) has a curved magazine. That's all I know about military weaponry.

To gain a bit of empathy here, I would suggest you think about a topic you know little about -- but that's in the news. Volcanoes in Iceland, for example. When stuff like that happens, they have to explain something they know VERY little about to people who (most of the time) know even less. Usually it works out and the less educated become more educated. For the very educated, however, it's a problem.

This is universal. And it's always on deadline.

Like I said: It's easy until you do it.