Its funny because its true.


This one is funny as can be!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

If you're going to slam journalists, think maybe you should use the correct form of "it's" in doing so?

Admittedly reporters get things wrong all the time, but they do it for everything ... can't tell you how many times I see a police report about someone crashing their 1995 Mercedes RD into a tree. Keep in mind, however, that often these guys report what the police tell them, or other sources.

I hate to tell you, but most people who work in media aren't out to get, well, anyone. We just want to get a paper out, which is flirting with impossible these days. Most of the bias comes from the top, and even then, half the time it's incidental. If a reporter misidentifies a gun, it's because he doesn't know anything about guns, and he's got three other assignments to get to at once. With any luck there's a copy editor rotting away somewhere at a desk in front of lousy equipment until 2 a.m. who knows a bit about guns and can catch it before it goes to press.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Just poking fun at some mistakes. Its not only weapons I have seen some good ones.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Pf, FN57? I use my .454 Cassul revolver to kill bears and cougars. Scratch that, I use my bare hands.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Real men hunt tigers with BB guns!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

This is the fundamental problem.

Anything that is reported by the press on which I have the slightest bit of experience will easily be proven as totally wrong. This generally is related to anything concerning an aircraft or a jet engine.

The requirement for accuracy is simply dismissed out of hand in favor of sending something...........anything.........out over the airwaves. The lack of any desire for a correct report is simply unacceptable, IMHO.

Sorry, but the pressure to meet a deadline doesn't give you carte-blanche to put out the first line of BS that comes into your head.

Your profession is suffering an ongoing degradation of respect due to such behavior...........and the profession has certainly earned it.

Considering that the average American is a moron, you might as well just make up the entire article with virtually no investigation whatsoever...........because............it doesn't matter.

As long as they get your name right, come on...

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Right on the money. I see stories about my area of expertise and the media screws it big time, so I can assume they are dumb as rocks on every other subject as well.

In college those who dropped out of engineering went to business school. Those who failed business school went to journalism...

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MB-less

You ain't seen mistakes until you've worked on the copy desk. LOL. I've seen some good'uns on hard deadline ... although some of the best were before my time. Legend has it we had "PARATOOPERS" in a massive headline, made it to press. We've had some classic photos, too, although we're crude enough on copy desk that we usually pick up on those before they get to print.

The internet makes it worse ... speed is extremely important, so things like spelling, basic grammar and correct information fall by the wayside.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Unfortunately Brian your last statement has a lot to do with why this approach to journalism flies. No, deadline isn't an excuse to throw things together haphazardly. But generally the reporters who do so, and get away with it, get the farthest. I was slow and meticulous and extremely careful to get facts and quotes perfect ... to the point where I researched things I wasn't familiar with. And I failed as a reporter. It's pretty cutthroat. That's not to say honest, intelligent writers can't make it, because I know several. And even the best make hilarious mistakes sometimes ... or are asked to cover something above their heads. If someone asked me to do a story on jet engines and have it in by 5 p.m. tomorrow, along with two other stories on topics I didn't know anything about, I'd probably screw up, too. It used to be the case that we had writers and copy editors with a wide variety of expertise, so you could match knowledge with subject. Now we've got a tiny handful of reporters who have to cover everything, and they have to do it in time to get a "Web update" or Twitter. That's one of the reasons I lost interest in being a reporter. I don't want to fasttrack a story just to "Twitter" it to our "readers."

It doesn't help the editing side, either. I used to spend a lot more time on every story. Now, 10 p.m. hits and I've got to edit half the paper, lay out two late-breaking pages on slow, crash-happy equipment, and oh, post a Web update somewhere in there, before 10:40. I'm meticulous bordering on obsessive compulsive, and I'm far from lazy and not stupid. But you'd better believe I've made some embarrassing mistakes over the past few months, even on topics I'm very familiar with.

That said ... there are some writers, and photographers, who are just lazy. Always have been.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Might I suggest that accuracy is extremely important. You're in the business of providing information to people. If it's not accurate information, you've got absolutely no business sending it out.

Have a bit of integrity............if I ran my business like you suggest, I wouldn't have one..........because, unlike your business, my customer is not a moron............and he won't accept a very marginal product.

A sad commentary on the state of affairs in our society today. Another example of the general acceptance of very mediocre performance, at best, by a general public that is very mediocre, at best.

It's the primary reason that I'm highly intolerant of most people...........stupidity coupled with the lack of integrity.

I graduated summa cum laude with honors from Bucknell University. Never tried business school but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have failed it. Probably could have done OK in engineering, too. Don't get me wrong: Entering this hellpit of an industry was a huge mistake. But I didn't do it because I'm "dumb as rocks." I did it because I loved sports, loved the English language, and thought I'd love journalism. Instead it's torn me to shreds, and one of things that helped was constantly being told how stupid I am, or biased, or conceited, or highbrow.

The industry is failing for a variety of reasons, the main one being, as I see it, a gross failure of management to recognize and adapt to the changing landscape of media. I don't think it's failing because of ignorant writers. From what I hear from old-school veterans of journalism, writers were pretty stupid 50 years ago, too. Readers just had less to compare it to to find out how stupid they were.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Indeed. Although I do think such was the case in the past to some degree. You just had less sources, so people believed whatever was printed in the daily newspaper. Now there's just a lot more forms of media through which to funnel incorrect information. And the few people who want to fix it or perfect it aren't given the time to do so.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

I have plenty of integrity ... and so do most of the people I work closely with on the desk. I'm not advocating the business model the journalism industry runs on, by any means. I'm just saying what it is. As far as I'm concerned, I'm fine to get out as soon as I can and watch it burn. Maybe then someone with some brains and, as you say, integrity, will pick up the pieces. Either way, I'd rather be in a business where my work ethic and care for quality gets me somewhere. This isn't it. Funny thing is, they sure don't want me to leave, even though they treat me like dirt (the higher ups). I asked to take severance on the last round of layoffs because I hate it there and didn't want to see someone else take the hit. They said no, they already had the layoffs planned and they couldn't lose me. Go figure.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)