30 posts tagged “journalism”

Can someone please explain this first paragraph on the Think Spain site?

Clocks go back an hour this weekend, in the early hours of Sunday morning, as Europe says goodbye to British Summer Time and adopts daylight saving time (Greenwich Mean Time).

   This makes no sense.
   1. Only the UK is on British Summer Time in Europe, I thought.
   2. British Summer Time and daylight saving time are the same thing, aren’t they?
   3. Daylight saving time and Greenwich Mean Time are not the same thing.
   Or has the usage of these terms changed since I learned them?

Swine ’flu was long predicted by the Doctor Who writers. Except that time it was caused by Daleks.

Pigslave

This has got to be one of those bad journalism moments:

CNN on Fiat–Opel

Analysts say its small-car technology can help Chrysler, known for its minivans and Hummer line. In the past five years, Fiat has been able to regain market share in Europe with its economy fuel-saving cars as well as its luxury line, Alpha Romero.

   I’m sure Chrysler would love to know it owns Hummer and have extra headaches about what to do with that brand, and do Alpha Romeros have anything to do with actor Cesar Romero?

I rather liked Craig Ferguson’s jokes at last year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. It was a shame that his fellow media colleagues didn’t know a good laugh when they heard it.
   I have found this with political humour in the United States. I have had political jokes fall well flat, and this is due to the politeness of Americans. Democrats don’t want to offend Republicans in the audience, and Republicans don’t want to offend Democrats in the audience. Net result: little laughter.
   The only times one can get a bit more extreme is in areas which are staunchly one way or another (e.g. then-Sen. Obama at the DNC and Gov. Palin at the RNC).
   He dissed The New York Times as much as Fox News, Vice-President Cheney as much as Sen. Clinton, Bill O’Reilly as much as Keith Olbermann, and he even had a go with the media in general. However, I loved his closing which was a great way to bring everyone together. Also notice that Mr Ferguson got a standing ovation.

This was made before the US presidential election, but Craig Ferguson’s sentiments about the media remain valid. And we shouldn’t need to be “sold” the fact that we live in democracies.

Philip Glenister and the Audi Quattro

Here’s what Ian Wylie of the Manchester Evening News had to say about the Daily Mirror tabloid report that Philip Glenister might depart early from Ashes to Ashes:

And rest easy, Jack. The latest flurry of tabloid stories are, in fact, non-stories. Matthew and Ashley always planned Ashes To Ashes as a three series story arc – nothing more, nothing less. I know from speaking to Phil that he is very keen to do a third series to tell the story in full and finally reveal the “bigger picture”.
  So newspaper stories claiming – shock horror – that he is to quit after a third series are a bit daft. There were only ever going to be three series.
   The BBC, as ever, is expected to make a decision on a third series once it has studied the ratings for the forthcoming series two. But given the info I’m getting about the quality of series two and the fact that we’ve come this far, I’d have thought there is every chance a third series will get the green light, allowing Matthew and Ashley to tell that full story.

   In short, the British tabloids are full of it. Again.

Philip Glenister and the Audi Quattro

Not that I can see the article thanks to the Mirror’s redesign, but I take it that Philip Glenister will leave Ashes to Ashes after this second series. If the article ever loads from the ultra-slow Trinity–Mirror site, I’ll let you know what I find out.
   It’ll have been a good four years with the Gene Genie.
   The BBC may make it a three-series show, however, so how it will fare without DCI Gene Hunt for its final year remains to be seen. He is the star of the show and gets top billing.
   Hang on, it’s loaded, after four minutes.
   OK, the article seems to contradict itself as one paragraph begins:

Philip Glenister, who plays tough 1980s detective Gene Hunt, will be seen on screen with time-travelling cop psychologist DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) in a new series on BBC1 next month. And if that is as big a hit as the first—which got more than 7million viewers—he will make a third. But that will be the lot.

   So is he or isn’t he, or is his renewal conditional?
   Then the paragraph continues:

A BBC source said: “Philip has loved playing Gene and knows a lot of fans would like him to carry on. But he feels he's taken the role as far as he can. The makers were obviously disappointed …”

which suggests he is leaving.
   I guess it is a tabloid so we can’t expect any article to be in comprehensible English, but still, the Mirror has been pretty good on Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes gossip over the last few years.
   We need to wait for the Manchester Evening News’s Ian Wylie to give us a proper low-down.

On some things, democracy works.
   Two weeks ago, our city council wanted to abandon our green recycling bins in favour of paid bags. This would be a silly move at a time when people are feeling the pinch. Secondly, it would discourage recycling, because people would put their recyclable material into the regular rubbish to avoid paying for the bags.
   Over 7,000 people (myself included) signed a petition to keep the status quo.
   Interestingly, the Fairfax Press reported today:

Fairfax—WCC green bins saved

[Cross-posted from Lucire] The Opel Insignia has won European Car of the Year, so I was wrong on my guess that a Ford would take the position.
   The Ford Fiesta lost by one point: 320 to the Opel’s 321.
   Volkswagen’s Golf VI was well behind in third at 223.
   This year, 19 had the second-placed Ford Fiesta as their pick, pipped by the 20 who chose the Opel Insignia.
   The other cars and their scores were: Citroën C5, 198; Alfa Romeo MiTo, 148; Škoda Superb, 144; and Renault Mégane, 121.
   The Opel Insignia is called the Vauxhall Insignia in the UK and the Buick Regal in China.