Dreadful BBC reporting

[gavintc]

This is an interesting one. The BBC defence will be that the cause and effect are related. A cyclist died - newsworthy, a traffic jam occured - newsworthy. The problem will be to prove that in similar accidents, the inconvenience to motorists was not given such prominence in the original article. I can almost hear the silky smooth defence which will claim that 'cyclists are making too much of this - well cyclists do this don't they' in a patronising manner. Conveniently, reading today's BBC Scotland pages, there is a report of 3 motorists dying, but no mention of delay.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7678598.stm

 

[yello]

My wife couldn't see what the problem was, saying it was factual. I tried to get her to see that it was not the facts but the emphasis, the balance. More weight is given to the fact that peoples journeys were inconvenienced than to it being road accident. It gives the message, as I read it, that the journeys are of greater value than the life.

The fact it's a cyclist is immaterial really. I would be equally appalled by the report if it were a car accident.

 

[ComedyPilot]

"I find this type/style of reporting (all the more prevalent nowadays) to be abhorrent. Although not known at the time, a life was lost, the incident was still serious. The tone and language used in the article read as if the 'poor motorists' were being somehow inconvenienced by the cyclist's situation. Come on BBC, have a little bit of thought for both the family of the person involved, and how this type of shoddy reporting is interpreted by your readers/viewers."

Just posted that as a complaint on the BBC site.

 

[dodgy]

6 paragraphs in that story, inconvenience to motorists was mentioned in 4 of the 6.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Thanks for flagging this. My response

"I've just read this story. I'm appalled at the emphasis in the story. Someone was seriously injured in this collision. However, your report focusses on the inconvenience to motorists. The roads were blocked to move an injured person and to gather evidence about the collision. The motorists and journalists concerned should be ashamed that they did not have any more compassion"

 

[domtyler]

Injury to toddler leads to delays

A toddler has been seriously injured in a crash in Southampton leading to severe delays for motorists.

The toddler, a 2-year-old girl from Southampton, suffered life-threatening injuries in a collision with a car on Millbrook Road West at about 0730 BST.

Some motorists were delayed for several hours. All roads have since reopened.

A 29-year-old female driver of a Fiat Punto, who was uninjured and was held on suspicion of having inflicted grievous bodily harm, has been bailed.

During the incident, police closed the junction of Millbrook Road West and Trebourba Way. There were also closures in place at the junction with Waterhouse Way.

Traffic was also prevented from turning into Regents Park Road.

 

[dodgy]

Precisely, Dom.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I tell you, f**king media/journos are pure scum. Almost as bad as chavs and domestic violence jockeys

 

[sheddy]

story update - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/7678672.stm

 

[Rhythm Thief]

To be honest, I've seen exactly the same thing in reports about fatal motorway crashes - Long Delays as Lorries Collide, 2 Dead, that sort of thing. It's never occurred to me as a lorry driver to feel morally outraged about it. Without wishing to sound callous, one road user dead is not really news, in that it doesn't affect people outside of his circle of family and friends, whereas traffic chaos potentially affects many more. I'm not trying to excuse the BBC, but I can maybe see why they take this angle.

 

[Saddle bum]

What is GBH without intent, never heard of it. I thought GBH implied deliberate intent and ABH was without intent.

 

[dodgy]

story update - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/7678672.stm[/quote]

Looks like they now have a page they can point to that says "we care about people, too".

Dave.

 

[gratts]

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