Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Carlton
Some of us..........names withheld to protect the guilty..........like to believe most of what they hear and read.
Clearly, they remain unconvinced of the ineptitude of the media and the complete lack of any desire for accuracy.
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Its simply a matter of being critical in reading everying. I am as critical of news media as I am posts on OD here, where I often play devil's advocate (like now) on here, but also source news from various sites and check where they got their info. Sounds like a lot of work but it isn't - its typically apparent in the story or stories.
Knowing a number of people in journalism and having worked with them as well, I can say that there is no "lack of desire for accuracy", these people wish to be employed like any other, and there is no shortage of those seeking employment. If they are continually inaccurate they'll get canned like any other person underperforming at their position. A lot of what they report is fed to them in press releases (why I asked above about the Colorado case), which are NOT written by journalists--and that is a huge source of misinformation. People who are taken to be experts on the subject will release something with a colloquialism in it for example, and get all sorts of crap back from people splitting hairs. Assault-rifle vs. assault-weapon is a good example, chances are that was from a press release and the police just made a common error. The press knows no better than an official source. The reason I am critical of these MSM threads is that people are simply leery of any single source of information, and always have been for quite some time. These people believe there is some sort of large conspiracy and all news outlets are in on it when in reality there are of course corporate pressures, but no big conspiracy especially when you get down to the local level.
This thread is no exception. From what I can understand, the 10 year old said the girl was floating at the bottom of the pool instead of suspended in homeostasis or whatever somewhat-more-correct term might be desired--and thus the news reports. MS are you really criticizing the quote of a 10 year old?
Furthermore, it is the news reporter/journalist's responsibility to write clearly and easily for people to understand--last time I wrote for media it was a 5th grade level for the public and on a commercial/corporate level we maintain 5th grade as well. Yes, being accurate is part of their job and they are incorrect at some rate but there is so so much more going into any given report than just "the facts, ma'am". News is entertainment, surveillance, etc.
Also when I searched "floating face-down on the bottom of the pool" (the direct quote from OP...appears not to be factually correct, imagine that) to check the sourcing the only result is peachparts. Hmm. A link might be helpful.