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Innacurate newspaper stories about railroads.

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, December 15, 2012 9:20 PM

Ulrich

Deggesty

And, recently, there was in the local paper an article which had a picture in which a man was described as drinking a tanker of beer--it looked to me that he was holding a stein, which perhaps could have been called a tankard. It seems that the caption writer had little education.

Must be the same guy who wrote a recent article about "navel" officer training..

Will he write another article, about "navel" stores? Or, one about "naval" oranges?

Johnny

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Posted by Andrew Falconer on Saturday, December 15, 2012 10:23 PM

Everyone at the local market  Newspaper-Radio Station-TV station is being spread out with too many assignments in order to "save" money that they do not have to time to fully finish anything. They are most likely charging too little for advertising to attract advertisers to pay for the production of the news.

 

Andrew

Andrew

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Posted by dakotafred on Sunday, December 16, 2012 7:36 AM

This ignorant railroad reporting is especially painful and inexcusable in towns that wouldn't even be on the map if not for their railroad ... Cheyenne, Wyoming, being a prominent example. And my present Bismarck, N.D., another. Especially when that railroad is still a big local employer and taxpayer.

In such a town, the first thing a newspaper or TV station should do with a new reporter is sit him down for a one or two-hour class on railroad basics. So he doesn't make his employer look like a monkey (if for no better reason, such as serving up an intelligent story to the reader or viewer). This wouldn't even cost much money.

Trouble is, the supervisors at these media probably don't realize how ignorant they, themselves, are on the subject ... and don't see the need. 

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Posted by desertdog on Sunday, December 16, 2012 10:26 AM

The media business is greatly fragmented and highly competitive. As has been discussed in the context of railroads and model railroads, traditional fan magazines are having a tough time. Newspapers have been failing for years, major radio companies are highly leveraged at a time when many stations struggle to find a niche. Over-the-air television has to compete with hundreds of channels of cable and satellite that offer advertising.

Meanwhile, Internet advertising keeps growing as people shift to smart phones, tablets, etc. for their media content. If anyone could raise rates in this environment--and especially in a weak economic recovery--they would have done so already.  

That said, nothing excuses sloppy reporting or fact checking.

John Timm

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Posted by MJ4562 on Sunday, December 16, 2012 11:48 AM
The news media doesn't report anything accurately, railroad or otherwise. This goes way back in history to ancient times. The media has never been concerned with the truth, it is concerned with selling information and political power. The apparent differences in journalism now and fifty years ago are only cosmetic and are simply a sign of the times. Educational institutions used to have higher standards and news releases were limited and carefully scheduled. Now schools graduate anyone who pays and the media puts out 24/7. Why pay someone top dollar to write grammatically correct lies when you can pay someone minimum wage to pump out lies?
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Posted by schlimm on Sunday, December 16, 2012 7:09 PM

You cite zero evidence for such extreme opinions which you state as though they were facts.  Source?

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

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Posted by Joe the Photog on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 10:05 AM

That's not true to my expirience. Newspapers do use freelancers from time to time, but most reporters are hired by the paper they work for. Not paid much at all either since newspapers are dying a horrible and slow death.

"As the world gets dumber and dumber, I feel more and more at home." -- Peter McWilliams
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Posted by Joe the Photog on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 10:24 AM

My favorite example was in my hometown newspaper who broke the story that the Lancaster and Chester Railway had been bought by Gulf Oil. This was on the web site prior to the next printing and I'm sure they wanted to be first. By the time the story was on the front page of the actual paper, they had corrected it -- after I sent the reporter an e-mail -- that the L&C had actually been bought by Gulf & Ohio Railways.

 

"As the world gets dumber and dumber, I feel more and more at home." -- Peter McWilliams
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Posted by John WR on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 12:20 PM

Joe the Photog
newspapers are dying a horrible and slow death.

That occurs to me too, Joe.  They are being replaced by the internet but there are problems.  

One problem is that the internet is a river a mile wide and an inch deep.  

Another problem is that for all of us local news is most important but the internet doesn't give us local news.  

John

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Posted by Ulrich on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 2:00 PM

I get my local news via the internet.. the local newspaper here have websites that report on all the local goings on.

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Posted by John WR on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 1:29 PM

My own newspaper has a website too, Ulrich.  I often use it.  In fact, I've posted many links to Sandy related stories on Henry's thread.  But I still want to hold a physical paper in my hand when I have my morning coffee.  

Clearly, you value local news because you read your newspaper on the web.  I think that is important.  

John

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 4:42 PM

Our local newspaper as well as the main TV station have websites that are fairly up-to-date.  In addition, the local cable company has a news bureau and a website.  In fact, they're often first up with local news stories.

We also have a local "news aggregator."  The site does a bit of "reporting," but virtually everything they have on the site is from other sites.   Oddly, much of the national news comes not from US news sites, but from the UK...

LarryWhistling
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