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The Kitchen Table

Accuracy (did I say accuracy?) in the media

11 years ago

Accuracy in newspaper reporting has always been an issue, but now the media has not only expanded hugely, but everything is reported immediately, and often full of errors.

A terrible crash occurred on a highway in northeast PA this morning when a southbound tractor-trailer crossed the median and hit a northbound bus head-on. Three are dead and over a dozen injured. All the passengers were from Italy.

When I read the story on the same website an hour ago, they were all from Japan.

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wildchild2x2

11 years ago

There is no accuracy in the media. They have become all about sensationalism like a cheap rag or a dumb reality show. Facts? Who needs facts. Family member absolutely refuses to be interviewed unless it's live. Even if the reporter who gets the story does a good job the editors manage to chop it into something else. Bah.

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Comments (9)

User
11 years ago
Being from a newspaper family...my list of gripes grows longer with each passing day. I agree. Accuracy is one of mine, as well, Susan. Along with that comes my constant frustration over their reporting an accident with none of the pertinent details. Or worse...printing that they'll update with names ASAP and they never do. SCREECH!!!! I discontinued my delivered paper subscriptions [with the exception of the Sunday paper so I have my crossword puzzle] long ago. Poor grammar...spelling...sentence structure...yada, yada, yada...just drove me to utter distraction. They weren't worth my money...or my sanity.
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dees_1
11 years ago
Media has become a source of instant information and accuracy has seriously suffered. People want information, want it NOW and don't care if it's correct. Then social media blows up with the information, right or wrong, and a perpetual catch up ensues.

The print media has become a shadow of its former self. (Did I use its correctly? Or is it its'? GAH!! :) )
socks
11 years ago
They are so eager to get the news out there, that they report before facts are verified.

I think you got it right, Dees. If you took out "former" you would write, "shadow of itself." Right? Now I'm not sure!
Elmer J Fudd
11 years ago
Yeah, I'd give them a break. They got it right, there was a crash. A bus and a truck. Finding out who was on it can take time.

Someone once said that the job of journalists is to write the first draft of history. The story can change and facts get corrected in later drafts.

At least this is real news, too much that's offered up as "news" these days isn't.
sheilajoyce_gw
11 years ago
I have met some of our local (suburban metropolitan area) reporters over the years. They tended to be fresh out of school, my kids' age. Yet I had been reading articles they wrote in our local press and mistakenly thought that they had some insight from years of experience in the subject or years of experience in the community or years of experience writing. Wrong. Because I knew the people and situations involved, I couldn't believe how wrong some of our local reporting has been and the inaccurate slant they and their editors apply to the subjects covered.
joaniepoanie
11 years ago
Remember when the nightly news (Huntley, Brinkley, Cronkite) was 1/2 hour of real news? Now the nightly news is about 5-10 minutes of actual world and national news and the rest is fluff.
Alisande
Original Author
11 years ago
Here's the crash I was talking about--a top story in the national news today. It's particularly awful when the innocent parties get killed. I wonder what happened with this truck driver. That's a wide median he crossed. Heart attack? Texting?

WSJ article
chisue
11 years ago
Young journalists in Chicago cut their teeth at the City News Bureau -- where fact checking was VERY important. It wasn't inscribed over the door, but the sentiment was, "If your mother says she loves you, check it out."

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