Herald website... what do they actually write?

It seems more and more every day the content on major news websites is syndicated word for world to other sites... But the Herald I've noticed has being using more and more incorrect pics associated with its stories.

Eg: today..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/9/story.cfm?c_id=9&objectid=10501846

The photo at the bottom is a Red Bull F1 car, and it has the caption "Brendon Hartley tests the 2008 Toro Rosso F1 car at the Vairano circuit in Italy". Which it isn't.

It is not the 2008 Red Bull car as they claim and, worse yet, the pic conflicts their own statement in the story that Hartley drove a car which wasn't decked out in the team livery - which the car in the photo clearly is.

Are they that lazy that they just did a goolge search for a pic?

R

Ha ha.. The TV3 website has the same photo but the caption: "Hartley tries out the Red Bull car in Saudi Arabia"

R

Or yesterday when they claimed the Hamster was a Kiwi.

Herald Journalism is fucking shoddy.

perhaps it was a kiwi Hamster

the results of not being prepared to pay for proper journalists possibly/probably - or being able to compete with the filthy lucre that is enticing talent out of the media and into PR

write a letter to the editor

I don't it's quite that simple. With global syndication and more and more of the online content being the 'master content' for the printed version newspapers are starting to do away with many of the special interest or niche reporters and instead have content managers.

I know a couple of science reporters who had a real interest and passion for science - you knew you could speak to them about stories and they'd get it. Now they're content manager (just to keep a job I guess). If you want to speak to someone about a science (or any number of specialties) story you get a general guy who you often have to spend ages and ages explaining basic stuff.. in the end meaning the story's potential for in-depth reporting has all-but gone out the window.

Altho, on the flip-side some in the PR industry think it'll mean more ability to write almost finished articles in-house and just then pitch them. As long as it runs it'll be bang on the money.... perhaps this is why we're seeing more and more stories replicated around the place. The racing driver story I mentioned above was reported on the Herald and TV3 websites.. different stories but a couple of paragraphs are word for word the same.... cut'n'paste easy peasy

TV, however, seems to have held onto it's specialty reporters (health, science etc).

R

Because if you want special interest news you get it from a special interest source, the main newspapers know this so they dont try to compete...

I'm with you Rob - but syndication, content managers etc - not as enticing as the PR world, which from the looks (ie I am a simple bystander) is doing real well

press releases are now news - there have been some really good examples of press releases becoming news items when the actual studies they are presenting are never researched (this is endemic in NZ) and the press release is fundamentally at odds with the actual research findings... ie bias is now creating the news - which is meant to be factual

of course its not all like this but generally standards worldwide (well at least in the west) have slipped dramatically

some specialty reporters are also fucking thick and don't know their stuff and also show bias (human trait) - I'm speaking to you IT reporter guy at the herald

Well, traditionally, (in print) much special interest news in the fields of science, business, marketing etc has come from the newspapers. The reason being is guaranteed reach, audience size and, since it's news, it'll be current. Magazines still have that 6 weeks behind aspect of them.

In online news I agree - but news consumption trends do still show people overwhelmingly use mainstream news-sites as their initial point of call and then do further and more detailed research/reading from that point. (- this is why I'd like to see NZ Herald etc having outbound links to more in-depth reading at the bottom of more of their articles, with disclaimers of course)

R

I have actually written a couple of articles which have been the lead story... the writer changes a couple of words and deletes a paragraph and puts his name to it. Suits me just fine. If they're too busy or discouraged from doing their own stories/research/interviews...

I don't really think that press releases are at odds with reality if that's what you were implying (maybe in some certain research cases for sure).. but look at the Herald nowdays and I can guarantee that at least 1/3 of the first four pages stories were instigated by a PR company somehow. They really don't have any defense for being deliberately misleading or, worse, dishonest. They get found out if they do. And without doubt, the respected companies who have regular relationships with the Herald etc are super careful to never put themselves in a position where they can be accused of lying. They'd rather say 'no' to a client in 99% of cases and talk to them about a different way of portraying the idea/case/story.

On this note: Ad agencies however seem to have no qualms at all about being deliberately misleading... it seems people only have a problem with being mislead when they think they've read a 'natural' news story but find out later it was a pitched story.

(This is incidentally why the value of a good news story in a single publication is dozens of times more than an ad in the same publication could ever be.)

R

in the case I am thinking the press release was issued by a national MP, saying study finds....

which is fundamentally at odds with what the study had found - they'd simply pulled the bits that appealed out and used them - the media reported this, instead of checking the study and reporting national MP issues press release filled with hot air

Not picking on national here, just the example, all politicans and vested interest groups do similar things

Oh,. being selectively misleading for political use is almost the norm.

(That's why the crime rate has apparently gone down when it's actually gone up as far as normal people are concerned.)

R

We get a press release feed at work and my fucking god they are written by children with crayons...

at least you heard about the bomb scare at ADC very few others did

Serious? What industry? (pm me any info.. I need a good laugh)

R