A rant about non-RTE radio news bulletins

Mr Pseudonym

Why is it read live? The script barely changes throughout the day. But, by having it so, it results in it being badly read. Despite the fact that Newstalk's bulletins are relatively short, I'm not sure a newsreader has ever got through a script without stumbling over something.

The way stories are introduced: "John Smith, outside the courts today, was very angry about the ruling"...cut to recording..."I'm very angry about the ruling..." I find it infuriating!

Does anyone actually value traffic bulletins and currency updates. On the first: I can understand an exceptional update - maybe if there's a concert on, somewhere, or if a road is completely blocked. But, "there are slight delays on the N11", isn't of value to anyone. On the second: I'm greatly interested in finance/banking, but day-on-day movements is of little use to anyone, and bores many most. A weekly currency update would be appropriate.

This is not confined to radio news. But, for sports fans, we want to know more about an event than just how Irish competitors did. For instance, one of the stories on Newstalk today was the Australian Open in golf. We were told that Adam Scott is leading, and then given a run down of where ALL the Irish players were ranked...right down to thirteen shots off the lead.

RTE suffers from some of the same problems, but has, with the likes of Michael Murphy, very good newsreaders.

denishurley

What really annoys me is the Classic Hits 4FM bulletins, the sports line at the start will be incredibly vague - "And in sport, all the latest from North Carolina" was an example a month or so ago, referring to a golf tournament. I knew the golf was on, but a lot of people mightn't have had a clue. It happens an awful lot

Mr Pseudonym

denishurley wrote: »

What really annoys me is the Classic Hits 4FM bulletins, the sports line at the start will be incredibly vague - "And in sport, all the latest from North Carolina" was an example a month or so ago, referring to a golf tournament. I knew the golf was on, but a lot of people mightn't have had a clue. It happens an awful lot

<Giggling>

reap-a-rat

denishurley wrote: »

What really annoys me is the Classic Hits 4FM bulletins, the sports line at the start will be incredibly vague - "And in sport, all the latest from North Carolina" was an example a month or so ago, referring to a golf tournament. I knew the golf was on, but a lot of people mightn't have had a clue. It happens an awful lot

The weekend starting Friday the 18th of October was Heineken Cup weekend in rugby, with all four provinces in action. For the first bulletin, only Leinster, Munster & Ulster were mentioned in the report :O Then the next hour, they mentioned Connacht, hopefully due to complaints. Bad form though.

It's not just the radio that the journalists seem so amateurish on, though. Some online news sources I read (RTE included) have such poorly written articles it's unbelievable to think someone got paid to write it. While the news readers could be better speakers, no doubt, sometimes the stuff is just horribly written. So that may make them stumble.

There's nothing worse than being on a long journey and hearing the same news 3 or 4 times, with literally no differences.

Ya know what's great, though? That sea forecast that RTE do. I love that!

Mr Pseudonym

reap-a-rat wrote: »

It's not just the radio that the journalists seem so amateurish on, though. Some online news sources I read (RTE included) have such poorly written articles it's unbelievable to think someone got paid to write it. While the news readers could be better speakers, no doubt, sometimes the stuff is just horribly written. So that may make them stumble.

I'm going to get around to doing a post on that at some stage. I've been trying to note examples of it over the last week or two. The Independent website is the worst for it, and some of the headlines are laughable. Not the best example, but the main story on the Indo website, atm, is "Son (19) charged with mother's murder". There is then a sub-heading, "Patrick Dunne (19) was charged..."*

*I feel a little queasy trivialising the story in that way

The newsreaders are the ones who write the scripts, and, usually, would have plenty of time to read-through, and highlight potential pitfalls.

Ya know what's great, though? That sea forecast that RTE do. I love that!

If you think that's good, check out the BBC's Shipping Forecast.

July Rain

The real problem with news in ireland is that its all government propaganda. RTE and Dennis Obrian run all the news bullitins on the FM dial.

wnolan1992

Tell me more about how the IsdaK is up to 22563155 fro 22562157...

The Footsie is up .000000000000001% you say?

Fascinating.

The_Captain

Personally I'd love to get rid of news bulletins on the hour, or at least get rid of them for music/entertainment stations rather than current affair stations. It just seems so backwards, and I find myself listening to Spin on the hour because they do news at ten to and play music on the hour.

Greyham

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Tell me more about how the IsdaK is up to 22563155 fro 22562157...

The Footsie is up .000000000000001% you say?

Fascinating.

I'm sure all of the youth radio listeners need to know how their diverse stock portfolios are doing.

westmidlands

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

Does anyone actually value traffic bulletins

On national stations now I don't think have any value anymore. Every morning listening to the AA traffic on any of the national stations it's the same thing, but on my local station - Galway Bay FM they are of some value because they have a guy who goes around on a motorbike actually checking it.

L1011

July Rain wrote: »

The real problem with news in ireland is that its all government propaganda. RTE and Dennis Obrian run all the news bullitins on the FM dial.

UTV have their own network news also - not everyone uses Newstalk.

Mr. G

A lot were with the INN back until 2010 when it collapsed, many of which went to Newstalk, though I thought UTV were mainly did advertising?

L1011

Mr. G wrote: »

A lot were with the INN back until 2010 when it collapsed, many of which went to Newstalk, though I thought UTV were mainly did advertising?

The UTV stations all take news feed from Dublin overnight and pre-recoded national stories for their own bulletins during the day. Its also available for other stations to take if they want to. The ad sales agency is a different thing but it also sells for all UTV stations as well as some others.

goose2005

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Tell me more about how the IsdaK is up to 22563155 fro 22562157...

The Footsie is up .000000000000001% you say?

Fascinating.

I really can't imagine why they read out stock indexes. Surely it's too little information for those who need it (and can presumably get every price on their smartphone), while it's useless and irrelevant for everyone else. The euro was worth 82p or $1.25. You might as well read the jokes off a Penguin wrapper