Can't believe everything you read

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Reading Chronicle

Network Rail announced the closure as the Crossrail project is heavily delayed, which will eventually deliver a high speed train service from Reading into Central London.

The idea of Crossrail providing the high speed service made me smile and I was about to post in "lighter side'... but there's a serious side to this sort of misinformation.

What examples do members have of press inaccuracies that stand out as being really misleading?

[Timmer]

What examples do members have of press inaccuracies that stand out as being really misleading?

Anything weather related! The hyperbole surrounding the British weather nowadays is off the scale because it makes good click bait.

[PhilWakely]

What examples do members have of press inaccuracies that stand out as being really misleading?

Anything written in the Daily Mail 

[Marlburian]

Not directly answering the question, but the standard of local journalism as seen on websites has badly deteriorated.

The couple serving the Reading area rely mainly on alerts from the police and other public services, but every now and then have a long article about someone who feels they're not getting what their entitled to. (Boiler breaks down in community housing; the provider responds promptly but it's going to take several days to source spare parts; heaters loaned; but the resident still feels hard done by.)

The websites have also made a hash of describing Crossrail.

One minor irritation with regional TV is when the presenter refers, say, to "a Newbury school" and it turns out that the establishment is actually in a village eight or so miles away.

[Reading General]

In the same vein they will refer to something occurring in Whitley or Tilehurst as near Reading rather than in. The standard of geography in all news outlets is appalling.

[Marlburian]

The train that featured in the Ealing rail crash of 1973 was due to stop at Tilehurst and some of the casualties were residents. One national newspaper wrung its editorial hands at the effect on "a small village".

I was on that train and, luckily, was a little later than usual in catching it and got a seat on a rear carriage, rather than my usual place halfway down. My carriage merely came off the rails and ran along the sleepers, whereas those nearer the front jack-knifed.

We sat there until the guard came along and told us to get off. We made our way through a terraced house on to the street, where a taxi-driver agreed to go outside his normal zone and take us to Maidenhead, where we caught a stopping service. At 0730 the next morning I rang the girl-friend to say that I was OK. She was a bit annoyed at being woken, and later her father wondered why I hadn't stayed behind to help the others. I hadn't known of the carnage at the front of the train, and still feel that I would have been a liability trying to help others.

Marlburian

[johnneyw]

My local Bristol paper sometimes has a very odd idea of what constitutes "local news".  It described an event happening "near Bristol" but on further reading this was actually near Malvern, over 60 miles away, not even in the West but in the Midlands and where they speak with a Midlands accent (being quite near Birmingham).

[Robin Summerhill]

My local Bristol paper sometimes has a very odd idea of what constitutes "local news".  It described an event happening "near Bristol" but on further reading this was actually near Malvern, over 60 miles away, not even in the West but in the Midlands and where they speak with a Midlands accent (being quite near Birmingham).

Whilst I agree there is a problem with journalists getting things right, and often if not usually over-generalising eg near Bristol can cover a multitude of sins, or my pet hate of pointless rounding off eg "BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) got rid of steam over 50 years ago" - what IQ level are they aiming at if they think their punters won't understand the number 52? - there is also the matter of personal pereception.

I remember an item on TV many years ago when punters were asked where they thought "The Midlands" started. The Cornish thought they started at Exeter; Devonians thought they started at Bristol; most Bristolians I know would say the Midlands started at Brum.

And what's a "Midlands accent?" A trained ear (or people who are interested in such things) will notice the gradual change in accents even over a few miles. Bristol people do not have the same accent as Gloucester people who do not have the same accent as Worcester people and so on. And I am afraid if you think that Malvern is full of people sounding like Frank Skinner or Amy Turtle I am afraid you are severely misinformed...

Then there is the term "middle aged." On the basis of the biblical three score and ten, you're middle aged at 35. But nobody at 35 calls themselves middle-aged, whilst old gits like me with one foot in the grave and have been collecting a pension for years, usually do.

Funny old world, innit?

[Surrey 455]

Its not just the "local" paper. Local TV news was just as bad. I used to watch London Tonight on Carlton / LWT and sometimes they'd say "Today in West London....." and I'd look at the images to try and work out if it was somewhere near me. Usually I had no idea. Was it Hammersmith?, Uxbridge?, Hounslow?, etc.

I wasn't bothered if they spoke about South / North / East London in that way as I didn't know those areas anyway.

[infoman]

To my ears

Cheltenham residents generally have soft "R's" in the way they speak.

Worcester residents have the Birmingham tone.

If that helps.

[TaplowGreen]

To my ears

Cheltenham residents generally have soft "R's" in the way they speak.

Worcester residents have the Birmingham tone.

If that helps.

A hard choice between a soft "Rs" or a Birmingham accent - I guess the former is easier to address with exercise? 

[Red Squirrel]

Not sure what people mean when they talk about soft and hard R's... West Country folk simply pronounce the letter R in the same way wherever and whenever it appears.

Less lucky people seem to feel the need to apply some complex rules whereby they ignore Rs towards the end of words or near other consonants, but chuck in extra ones where it suits them (for example in 'drawring', meaning 'sketch'). Good luck to them, I say! Or as they say in West Bristol: Vive la difference!

[PhilWakely]

As a Devonian, oi says me Rs with an oooh!  Ooooh aRRRh!   

[Robin Summerhill]

As a Devonian, oi says me Rs with an oooh!  Ooooh aRRRh!   

Robert Newton has got a lot to answer for...