How do we educate the media ?

[Phil Perry]

Probably not much of a thread starter I know,. . . but why oh why to the press and general media always seem to misreport aircraft incidents so badly, and not only this, but quite often place a negative spin on whatever happened, even thought they apparently have no idea at all about what they are actually reporting upon, and don't seem to have access to any aviation specialists except in the case of very LARGE aircraft mishaps, where they usually roll out the same bloke from aviation weekly magazine or someone similar. . . . ?

 

I've read a few of these reports, one of which was relating to a Microlight fatal where one of our Club pilots died from injuries received.

 

The press got nearly everything wrong, from the type of aircraft, to the name of the site, and also, the names of the persons involved. It got worse, the whole, pointless report concluded with the following statement " The pilot of the little plane HAD NOT FILED A FLIGHT PLAN "

 

So average Joe public seeing the report then thinks Oh My God !!! No Flight Plan ??? No wonder he crashed then. . . .

 

Some time ago a single seat microlight called a "Scirocco" crashed in a field. The impact was nearly vertical, and unsurprisingly, the pilot was killed instantly. News Report : "The pilot was an absolute HERO. . . he managed to steer his "STRICKEN PLANE" away from a school playground full of children " NO HE BLOODY DIDN'T ! ! ! 1) The incident occurred at 18:45 hrs . . . the kids go home at 15:30. 2) the school field was 2 NM from the accident site. 3) the horizontal stabiliser assembly detatched from the aircraft ( primarily due to a bad design, and an even worse glass fibre repair. . . , and that pilot wasn't STEERING anything.

 

Oh well, perhaps the headlines help to sell a few more papers ??

 

I've tried, fruitlessly, to educate our local paper reporters following incidents, and sent furious fruitless emails to various editors, suggesting that maybe if they contacted a local flying club they could get some background to add meat to their daft reports, and you can guess where this got me.

 

So now I just grit my teeth and have another glass of shiraz. ( unless I'm flying, then it's Lucozade ) Phil

 

 

[johnm]

watch it Phil

 

headline could be .............................

 

'pilots continual use of Lucozade to counter rampant effects of Shiraz (and other harmful ingested liquids) concern authorities - 'random' on the spot blood sugar tests being considered by aviation officials'

 

 

[turboplanner]

Think of a journalist as a PC - he/she is a processor, and it's garbage in - garbage out.

 

A journalist deal with thousands of different walks of life, and cannot be expected to be an expert in any one - for instance what is your Country's foreign policy strategy in Nigeria - lt's see you write a 150 word story and get it right, oh and by the way the deadline for the story is 45 minutes.

 

That's the background, so whoever the journalist interviews provides the backbone to the story, and you've read enough posts here to know that some terrible porkies come from people here who are right in the middle of the recreational aviation business and should know better - recent examples being turning an aircraft with the rudder (apparently from a sailor), and using speed to prevent stalling.

 

I've been interviewed hundreds of times and quoted accurately about 98% of the time, but I've always tried to keep my words very simple, and usually gone over the same words two or three times to make sure the journalist understood. Where I've taken a shortcut and just made it conversational, the story is usually wrong - which I accept is my fault.

 

Some of the criticism of journalists on this site has been appalingly uninformed.

 

 

[cscotthendry]

Probably not much of a thread starter I know,. . . but why oh why to the press and general media always seem to misreport aircraft incidents so badly, and not only this, but quite often place a negative spin on whatever happened, even thought they apparently have no idea at all about what they are actually reporting upon, and don't seem to have access to any aviation specialists except in the case of very LARGE aircraft mishaps, where they usually roll out the same bloke from aviation weekly magazine or someone similar. . . . ?I've read a few of these reports, one of which was relating to a Microlight fatal where one of our Club pilots died from injuries received.

 

The press got nearly everything wrong, from the type of aircraft, to the name of the site, and also, the names of the persons involved. It got worse, the whole, pointless report concluded with the following statement " The pilot of the little plane HAD NOT FILED A FLIGHT PLAN "

 

So average Joe public seeing the report then thinks Oh My God !!! No Flight Plan ??? No wonder he crashed then. . . .

 

Some time ago a single seat microlight called a "Scirocco" crashed in a field. The impact was nearly vertical, and unsurprisingly, the pilot was killed instantly. News Report : "The pilot was an absolute HERO. . . he managed to steer his "STRICKEN PLANE" away from a school playground full of children " NO HE BLOODY DIDN'T ! ! ! 1) The incident occurred at 18:45 hrs . . . the kids go home at 15:30. 2) the school field was 2 NM from the accident site. 3) the horizontal stabiliser assembly detatched from the aircraft ( primarily due to a bad design, and an even worse glass fibre repair. . . , and that pilot wasn't STEERING anything.

 

Oh well, perhaps the headlines help to sell a few more papers ??

 

I've tried, fruitlessly, to educate our local paper reporters following incidents, and sent furious fruitless emails to various editors, suggesting that maybe if they contacted a local flying club they could get some background to add meat to their daft reports, and you can guess where this got me.

 

So now I just grit my teeth and have another glass of shiraz. ( unless I'm flying, then it's Lucozade ) Phil

Phil: Unfortuantely dry facts don't sell papers. Sensationalised stories do. That applies to EVERYTHING the media report, not just flying incidents and accidents (BTW, I'll bet your local reporter doesn't know the difference between an incident and an accident either), but also including and especially politics. But to your question:How to educate them? I don't think we can...They don't want to be correct, they want to sell newspapers. Trying to educate the media is like teaching pigs to sing. It's a waste of time, and it annoys the pigs.

 

 

[bilby54]

A very recent incident this week was reported really well and acurately by the local paper and they must have provided that same information to other news broadcasts.

 

Not good enough for the television stations who nearly all sent a helicopter to cover the tragic event with one actually landing near the crash site. The pretty little reporter and the crew were all advised by the police that they would be spending the night in a motel with a one way door if they did that again. The aerial activities chased the cattle through the broken fence and now need to be mustered and drafted.

 

I fuly appreciate what Phil is saying as some reports make you cringe and most local papers and radio stations only deal with local events so it would not be to hard for them to get reliable and acurate information.

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Why care what they say? Why do you even follow their crud product?

 

 

[dazza 38]

As a general rule they seem to be pretty dumb. Surely somebody in channel 7,9 10 etc etc and the news papers must no something about aircraft. I mean what kind of a idiot came up with the C17 Blowmaster instead of Globemaster. Don't these clowns have google ? Another good one was a photo on the news of a FA18 Hornet, which has served this country for over twenty years. Bimbo news reader called it a F16 .She may have read that off her notes, but i'm sure most of the general public would have a pretty good idea what a FA 18 Hornet looks like in this country.

 

 

[kgwilson]

The only way to educate them is infiltration.

 

All pilots with very good looking sisters (even wives) should ensure they have affairs with all editors & CEOs of media organisations with the express intention of making sure all aviation related stories are channeled though an aviation source before publishing. If the media organisation heads are female, well hunk pilots you know what to do.

 

Did I hear someone say blackmail? Sacrifices must be made to get it right.

 

 

[facthunter]

Too much sacrifice required there. They'd get infected with something.Nev

 

 

[Tomwantstobeapilot]

The unfortunate, recent crash in Lismore, has several reports saying that "Because the plane was not an ultra-light or a fixed wing aircraft, no investigation will be conducted by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau."

 

Last time I checked, RV-12's were fixed wings!

 

Tom

 

 

[turboplanner]

The unfortunate, recent crash in Lismore, has several reports saying that "Because the plane was not an ultra-light or a fixed wing aircraft, no investigation will be conducted by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau."Last time I checked, RV-12's were fixed wings!

 

Tom

I'm out on the road atm, but go back and have a look at that report. I think the police officer said that, and the PO was probably over-quickly briefed by the ATSB person on the spot and didn't quite get it. Some of these quotes are innocent mistakes - like the spelling and grammar on this site.

 

 

[johnm]

'...................... mistakes - like the spelling and grammar on this site'

 

eeeeeeeyyye - we're all guuilty of dat !

 

 

[Tomwantstobeapilot]

I'm out on the road atm, but go back and have a look at that report. I think the police officer said that, and the PO was probably over-quickly briefed by the ATSB person on the spot and didn't quite get it. Some of these quotes are innocent mistakes - like the spelling and grammar on this site.

That's what I thought. She wouldn't really have any idea herself so it's not her fault. It's just another mistake though...

 

Tom

 

 

[bilby54]

Aren't mistakes what cause aircraft to crash??

 

 

[2tonne]

In my experience, the best way to get things reported accurately is to put the points you won't made in an email to the journalist. They are very proficient with 'copy and paste' - saves thinking and effort on their behalf.

 

 

[Yenn]

Journalists are like a lot of us, Lazy. They take notes talk to lots of people and then pick what appears eeasiest to print. Maybe the problem is editors, some of the stupid statements must be obvious before they go to print.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Think of a journalist as a PC - he/she is a processor, and it's garbage in - garbage out.

 

A journalist deal with thousands of different walks of life, and cannot be expected to be an expert in any one - for instance what is your Country's foreign policy strategy in Nigeria - lt's see you write a 150 word story and get it right, oh and by the way the deadline for the story is 45 minutes.

 

 

 

Well, . . . you make a very good point there Turbo, . . . but, since I type ALARMINGLY quickly ( I learned that from my time at the Flight Service school in Melbourne, training for AFTN, ( failed the MET exam due to going into too much detail. . .and got chucked off the course ! ) I could google our UK foreign policy in Nigeria and get it to my editor in a heck of a shorter time than 45 Mins my boy ! ! ! ! I even already know the name of the minister responsible ( the world just loves a smart ar$e ) I type so fast that I quite often leave a capital letter in the second character position, as the shift key doesn't have time to disengage from the keyboard poll circuit before the next one is struck { HP Laptops are crap }. . . . . as you'll notice from some of my un-edited posts where I just can't be a$$ed to bother altering it. . .

 

I see your point though, ie the dessicated facts bit anyway. And I really DON'T know why I get so bloody angry with these reports, I read around 2 - 3 newspapers every day, ( No, I'm not unemployed, and yes, I read very quickly as well ) and also read a lot of digital media too. I don't normally leave a comment though, as, apparently, there are already enough lunatics who like to do that, but it's sometimes entertaining to have a quick read. Thus far,. . . I have never had cause to lambast any Aviation based report which originated at the BBC,. and although this organisation is full of ex-paedophiles and loony lefties, ( So I am told ) they DO seem to at least carry out some background research before committing a story to the public. ( And YES I hate being forced by British law to pay them £145.00 per annum just to watch their damn channels - they should advertise for their revenue like everyone else. . .! ) They also seem to have access to some really knowledgeable AVIATION specialists as well,. another plus.

 

As for the rest of the UK media, . . . . no comment.

 

Oh, BTW ( I love abbbbbreviations - don't you ? They save so much space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .) I also read, New Scientist, Nigeria Today, Guitar Monthly, and Woman's Own ( best way to understand Wifey )

 

Phil

[Hongie]

I believe that the media needs educating about the difference between reporting and doing an opinion piece.

 

Having mentioned this in another thread, I'll not reiterate it in full, but if there was less effort put into sensationalizing, and more into getting the facts, less controversy would occur. The use of emotive words, instead of descriptive words plays a key part.

 

High powered.. Narrowly missing.. Disintegrated.. Dangerously low..

 

Instead of

 

200hp.. missed by 10 meters.. Broke into 3 pieces.. 500ft above the ground..

 

If the facts are not available, simply say so. In my eyes, using all this emotive language simply shows the reporters views towards something, not what the actual news is. 200hp, my be, in fact, a low powered machine, depending on what it is.

 

And again, this is not limited to aircraft accidents/incidents. Pick any subject, and op-Ed pieces are passed off as news.

 

My 2c

 

 

[Russ]

"Media"........leeches that live and breathe on other folks's misfortunes.

 

"Media"........a bunch of ego driven morons........( look at me, look at me )

 

"Media".........ABC the one and only channel to watch.

 

 

[turboplanner]

So Russ the media which recently publicised the plight of a mother whose daughter had contracted terminal cancer and mobilised a huge number of people who paid off and modified her house so her daughter could have a peaceful end - would they be leeches, and ego driven morons?

 

 

[Russ]

Sorry....should've been more clearer..................99 percent of them morons

 

 

[M61A1]

So Russ the media which recently publicised the plight of a mother whose daughter had contracted terminal cancer and mobilised a huge number of people who paid off and modified her house so her daughter could have a peaceful end - would they be leeches, and ego driven morons?

When you consider that the only reason that the media do this, is so that they get other people to provide the money and labour, all to make THEM look good...... I'm still gonna say yes to leeches and ego driven morons.

 

 

[Dieselten]

I am put in mind of the reporting of an aircraft accident:-

 

A small Cessna light aircraft crashed on a cemetery in Krakow, Poland. The report went something like:-

 

"dozens of rescuers and police have descended on the scene of an aircraft crash in Poland. Thirty eight bodies have so far been recovered and it is feared up to a hundred more may be found under the wreckage."

 

Pru Goward once said "a journalist is good for five minutes on any subject." I have heard more than one journalist say "never let the facts get in the way of a good story."

 

And now, a couple of useful definitions to keep in mind.

 

journalist - a failed author

 

editor - a failed journalist

 

 

[turboplanner]

I have heard more than one journalist say "never let the facts get in the way of a good story."

A little bit of plagiarism being introduced now? That statement was written by humorist Mark Twain.