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Consult an expert

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Inky_Wretch, Nov 12, 2020.

  1. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

  2. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    Based on what we know, you're surprised so many got it wrong? I'd bet somewhere there was a discussion about Capitan needing to be changed to Captain.
     
    Inky_Wretch likes this.
  3. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Yeah, that's a factual miss.

    Also, it feels like the extreme climbing industry keeps coming up with new routes to stay in the news and make good on their sponsors' financial support. I mean, it's an understandable mistake, in a sense. How many routes do you want the news media to keep track of?
     
  4. stix

    stix Well-Known Member

    I still can't decided between RBI and RBIs.

    One thing at a time.
     
    Liut likes this.
  5. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    I've actually found a really effective way to avoid this kind of mistake: don't cover esoteric bullshit like "Emily Harrington is the first woman to free-climb Golden Gate in a day."

    Anybody who cares, knows.
     
    wicked, Liut and stix like this.
  6. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    I’m sure it builds on itself, right? This is more noteworthy because of Free Solo and The Dawn Wall.

    In a few more years this is back to not making the cut for AP.
     
  7. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    It can be tiresome to make these nitpicky distinctions, but this media cycle has proven the consequences of not hiring journalists who are climbers to write stories about climbing.

    I'm not defending the error either but ... c'mon, man.
     
    stix and maumann like this.
  8. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    That smacks of the famous "you don't know anything about (insert sports here) because you never played the game."

    The role of any media professional is as a translator. We're there to explain complex issues or topics in a way that informs and enlightens people who don't know anything or little about the subject.

    Hopefully, we sift through the information and turn jargon into actual English words. I don't have to have chalk dust and carabiners in my pants pockets to write about rock climbing. But I do need to ask the right questions if I'm trying to describe the context of an historical event and use the correct terminology.

    The ball got dropped somewhere along the way, and of course, today's technology (and reliance on content aggregation) just compounds the misteak.

    If you do your homework and ask the right people, you can write or speak intelligently about nearly any topic. I took Basic Auto Shop in high school, but all I needed to do was to ask very specific questions of Doug Yates to help explain exactly why fuel injection was a big deal for NASCAR.

    I didn't have to tear down the carburetor myself. (Although when I did in 1975, I somehow ended up with a couple of springs and two small screws left over.)
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2020
    wicked, Danwriter, garrow and 2 others like this.
  9. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Keep firing copy editors.
    Keep consolidating desks.
    Keep ignoring institutional knowledge.
    Keep thinking that it's all about the bottom line and running as lean as humanly possible ... then go leaner than that.

    This happens. Along with far too many other avoidable errors.
     
  10. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    Keep ignoring institutional knowledge.

    I always love this one, when the entity sheds experienced staffers. Then it has the inevitable dropoff in stories, or solid depth in what stories it does get.
     
    Liut and maumann like this.
  11. stix

    stix Well-Known Member

    Your last sentence is going to be my journalism epitaph. I say that all the time and subscribe to it closely.
     
    PCLoadLetter likes this.
  12. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    Awesome take!
     
    maumann likes this.
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