Poor standards of journalism - RTE and others

Del.Monte

It never ceases to amaze me how major incidents are treated by the media but one would expect the National broadcaster to deal with things properly. Today, the story of the cruise ship off Norway leaves the listener hanging on wondering what the current situation is. We are told some people taken off by helicopter, the storm has abated and then there's a pointless soundbyte from some Norwegian expert who says some passengers suffering mental trauma.

Has the ship sunk? Have the engines been restarted? Will the rest of the passengers be taken off by helicopter? This sort of nonsense reporting is becoming more and more the norm - a logical follow up I suppose to the trite reports from various tragedies involving fires, car accidents etc. where the reporter asks "and how do local people feel about the deaths" - well, they are obviously overjoyed. :rolleyes:

amcalester

Just watched the news on RTE 1 and it was reported that 3 engines have been restarted.

Del.Monte

amcalester wrote: »

Just watched the news on RTE 1 and it was reported that 3 engines have been restarted.

That wasn't reported on RTE 1 radio lunchtime news - do they work in isolation from each other?

amcalester

Del.Monte wrote: »

That wasn't reported on RTE 1 radio lunchtime news - do they work in isolation from each other?

No idea, but it’d be an awful waste of resources if they were.

Is the Radio 1 news shorter than the TV version? That’d limit the amount of information that can be reported but the news team in general have more information than they (can) report.

Del.Monte

Del.Monte wrote: »

It never ceases to amaze me how major incidents are treated by the media but one would expect the National broadcaster to deal with things properly. Today, the story of the cruise ship off Norway leaves the listener hanging on wondering what the current situation is. We are told some people taken off by helicopter, the storm has abated and then there's a pointless soundbyte from some Norwegian expert who says some passengers suffering mental trauma.

Has the ship sunk? Have the engines been restarted? Will the rest of the passengers be taken off by helicopter? This sort of nonsense reporting is becoming more and more the norm - a logical follow up I suppose to the trite reports from various tragedies involving fires, car accidents etc. where the reporter asks "and how do local people feel about the deaths" - well, they are obviously overjoyed. :rolleyes:

Honestly, such examples of awful writing ought to have been beaten out of aspiring journalists in the College Newspaper phase of their careers.

Of course, the quality of writing (or, broadcasting) varies enormously between journalists. I find Barry Lenihan (RTE Drivetime) to be particularly concise and precise in his language. He is almost as exact in his language as Philip Boucher Hayes, whose work (whatever you think of the man personally) is far ahead of that of any of his peers at the Station.

Another person who deserves to be commended as a broadcaster with a wonderful grasp of language, meaning, and style (forgive my Oxford comma) is Sean Rocks (RTE Arena).

Rasberry awards for muddled and incoherent reporting, in this caller's opinion, go to Suzanne Campbell (Drivetime), Evelyn O'Rourke (Today SOR), and the winner of the Joe Duffy Pepetual Cup for the Absence of Style, Mr. Joseph Duffy (Liveline)

tretorn

I cant listen to Boucher Hayes at all, his drawling speech makes me want to lie down.

tretorn

tretorn wrote: »

I cant listen to Boucher Hayes at all, his drawling speech makes me want to lie down.

I quite like him, but I do see where you're coming from.

In any case, I'm only referring to his diligence in preparing his reports. You may not want to sit beside him on an airplane, but I don't think any of us can accuse his work of being incoherent, or lacking in clarity -- a vice that is characteristic of far too many journalists attached to the National Broadcaster.

I wonder whether RTE even examines the grammatical skills of its prospective jounalists. It would be interesting to conduct a survey of individuals broadcasting at the station - in whatever capacity - to discover how many of them can complete basic tasks like identifying the subject or the predicate of a sentence, or identifying a subordinate clause, and so on. The sort of basic knowledge you would expect from a primary school child.

Robert McGrath

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

the winner of the Joe Duffy Pepetual Cup for the Absence of Style, Mr. Joseph Duffy (Liveline)

Joe’s style is perfect for the show he has.

I always think his ability is highlighted in his absence - PBH is I’m sure a lovely fella and his more formal style works for Drivetime, but whenever he fills in on Liveline I think Joe’s “c’mere to me” gossipy chat approach is what the show really thrives on

Robert McGrath

Robert McGrath wrote: »

Joe’s style is perfect for the show he has.

I always think his ability is highlighted in his absence - PBH is I’m sure a lovely fella and his more formal style works for Drivetime, but whenever he fills in on Liveline I think Joe’s “c’mere to me” gossipy chat approach is what the show really thrives on

Liveline is certainly compelling, and its host is very adept at drawing-out some of the craziest statements and wild notions uttered across any broadcast media.

But I think what the OP is referring to is a very fundamental journalistic skill - to impart as much information as clearly as possible, without placing obstacles in front of your listener. It sounds like the simplest thing in the world to do, but so many journalists seem to struggle with it.

You're quite correct to point out that Liveline is a different kind of beast to The News At One, for example. I just mention Duffy's show since it is the ne plus ultra of rambling, barely-coherent radio !

And I'm not one of those grammar nazis, by the way. We all make clangers when writing informally, but if you're getting paid to impart information as a broadcast journalist, you should really be able to do so clearly and competently.

vladmydad

I find the major issue with journalism today is the bias. “Journalists” are behaving much more like commentators. The coverage of Brexit and Trump are perfect examples of this. It seems almost impossible for them to leave their prejudices at the door. Then there are the “journalists” who make themselves the story. Another issue is the bias by omission, this occurs when certain events take place that don’t fit the liberal narrative and is especially prevalent regarding the EU, immigration, Islam and Israel.

Del.Monte

Trivial mistake but nonetheless annoying this morning on the Ryan Tubridy show - his stand in for the show Maggie Doyle described Repak as "an environmental organisation". :rolleyes:

quintana76

vladmydad wrote: »

I find the major issue with journalism today is the bias. “Journalists” are behaving much more like commentators. The coverage of Brexit and Trump are perfect examples of this. It seems almost impossible for them to leave their prejudices at the door. Then there are the “journalists” who make themselves the story. Another issue is the bias by omission, this occurs when certain events take place that don’t fit the liberal narrative and is especially prevalent regarding the EU, immigration, Islam and Israel.

They are behaving like activists not journalists. They are pushing (with a tiny number of exceptions) a common agenda.. They have lost all credibility concerning "balance".

BarryD2

quintana76 wrote: »

They are behaving like activists not journalists. They are pushing (with a tiny number of exceptions) a common agenda.. They have lost all credibility concerning "balance".

Often sounds to me like there's a fair bit of old 'group think' in RTE. They tend to run with whatever the conventional view is or perhaps what they think the listener wants to hear.

The recent John Delaney affair is an example: for the first week the listeners were repeatedly assured that despite some failings that JD has done great things at local level and is loved by the grass roots blah, blah etc. Several times this mantra was repeated, lazy old journalism. Then suddenly the reportage all changed when the penny finally dropped that many small clubs were in fact critical of JD. But this was not new, people have been muttering about him for yonks.

The truth of course probably lies somewhere in the middle.

It low-key annoyed me how RTÉ news was yesterday reporting that the President and Mrs Higgins had signed a 'Book of Condolence'.

Surely the thing is a 'Book of Condolences'.

You're right, I have little to be worrying about. It's just the kind of thing that grates.

Del.Monte

Dear God, doomsday report by PBH on "Drivetime" complete with sombre music on potential global extinction of millions of species. Then Mary Wilson straight onto some other old ****e about business.... RTE should be ashamed of themselves the way they hop on every passing bandwagon and never follow through with anything worthwhile.