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Flippant style on rte.ie/news

  • 19-04-2007 8:07pm
    #1
    DMC
    Registered Users Posts: 10,726 ✭✭✭✭


    Has anyone noticed that a sort of flippant style of reporting has appeared on rte.ie/news ? A bit of tabloid sub-editing?

    A couple of examples.....

    http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0419/blacksea.html
    Truckers and road-trippers take note: 12 countries agreed today to create a 7,500 km 'ring road' around the Black Sea.

    http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0418/marijuana.html
    Growing marijuana does not usually end with a bang, but one Miami, Florida man was critically injured when his hydroponic 'lab' exploded. The force of the blast sent 40 year-old Edel Mesa flying into the yard, according to police.


Comments

  • #2
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    Subtle message? "We're not The Irish Times"?

    I suspect someone at rte.ie reckons its okay to be loose online as its where the kids hang out.

    Mike.


  • #3
    flogen
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 10,243 Mod ✭✭✭✭flogen


    Yes - I blogged about two such stories (this one and this one) and could easily dig up a few other ones I've found recently.

    I'm not sure if they've taken a new direction or just got short staffed, but it's not really what I'm looking for in the PSB, and it's a shame as it looked like they were beginning to move in the right direction as far as their online content goes... if only they had by-lines, then we'd know if it was one person or a collective effort.


  • #4
    DMC
    Registered Users Posts: 10,726 ✭✭✭✭DMC


    flogen wrote:
    Yes - I blogged

    Like, who reads them? ;)

    But, yes, the "wilfing" and Interrail were two others I noticed recently too.

    Its not on. Its something Spin would do.


  • #5
    santosubito
    Closed Accounts Posts: 495 ✭✭santosubito


    DMC wrote:
    Like, who reads them? ;)

    But, yes, the "wilfing" and Interrail were two others I noticed recently too.

    Its not on. Its something Spin would do.


    I did, actually:)

    I meant to contact you about that Flogen - well said.

    I too read that interrail piece and couldn't believe it.

    I wouldn't necessarily subscribe to the `we're not the Irish Times' theory. Rather, it tends to back up my theory that most reporters are muppets.


  • #6
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    The place is proberly peopled with pale faced junior reporters on experience.

    Mike.


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  • #7
    monument
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 14,072 Mod ✭✭✭✭monument


    DMC wrote:
    Like, who reads them? ;)

    I had read his blog posts too :)

    It's not just tabloid, it's just plain wrong.


  • #8
    damien
    Registered Users Posts: 4,290 ✭✭✭damien


    The headline for this article was "Sororicide jury breaks for weekend" but has now been changed to "Jury in O'Dwyer case breaks for weekend". It seems odd to use that word, even if the correct one. To be the original headline smacked more of "Great word innit? Aren't we all clever."


  • #9
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    There is a "rule" which says good factual TV (read media) should be aimed at an intellegent 12 year old. Sororicide is taking the pish. Unless said 12 year old is an Icelandic death metal fan

    Mike.


  • #10
    lostexpectation
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,082 ✭✭✭lostexpectation


    well I never gotten impresion that they've ever put effort into the text of the website news, preferring to depend on covering serious stories over the tv and radio news, and many different progrmas and as those links have been down the bottom for long time, that fair enough I guess.

    basically they don't have a newssite. im sure it's been discussed before but do RTE have a internet broadcasting mandate?


  • #11
    flogen
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 10,243 Mod ✭✭✭✭flogen


    lostexpectation wrote:
    basically they don't have a newssite. im sure it's been discussed before but do RTE have a internet broadcasting mandate?

    Well arguably their mandate, in the arena of News/Current Affairs, is to inform the Irish public of the country's and world's daily events - if the internet is found to be one of the media upon which this can be achieved then yes, it is part of their mandate to go online.

    There's probably a line in their charter which references new media too, just to solidify this situation.

    It should be noted, however, that RTÉ.ie is part of the PSB's "publishing division", as is Aertel and the RTÉ Guide. This section is not funded at all by the TV Licence (like 2FM) and is self-sufficient... I don't think this means that this division can do whatever it likes, as far as I know it being part of the RTÉ Group (and being an official body) means all its actions are supposed to be in the interest of the public and justified by the group's objectives, but it's worth noting that the website isn't paid for by public money and while it's not excuse at least it may make the above examples of terrible journalism just that little bit easier to swallow.


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  • #12
    lostexpectation
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,082 ✭✭✭lostexpectation


    flogen wrote:
    It should be noted, however, that RTÉ.ie is part of the PSB's "publishing division", as is Aertel and the RTÉ Guide. This section is not funded at all by the TV Licence (like 2FM) and is self-sufficient... I don't think this means that this division can do whatever it likes, as far as I know it being part of the RTÉ Group (and being an official body) means all its actions are supposed to be in the interest of the public and justified by the group's objectives, but it's worth noting that the website isn't paid for by public money and while it's not excuse at least it may make the above examples of terrible journalism just that little bit easier to swallow.
    #

    oh yeah I noticed the ads all over it, well if I have to pay a licence I like internet psb to included and paid for.


  • #13
    flogen
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 10,243 Mod ✭✭✭✭flogen


    lostexpectation wrote:
    #

    oh yeah I noticed the ads all over it, well if I have to pay a licence I like internet psb to included and paid for.

    With RTÉ, adverts aren't exactly a sign of what is and isn't publiclly funded... and we pay a TV licence, nothing else.


  • #14
    Judt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 594 ✭✭✭Judt


    The stories on RTE.ie annoy me... For one you get crap like that, but they're also so short. Essentially they go "Something happened." End. Not "Something happened, this is why it happened."


  • #15
    aidan_walsh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,208 ✭✭✭✭aidan_walsh


    Judt wrote:
    The stories on RTE.ie annoy me... For one you get crap like that, but they're also so short. Essentially they go "Something happened." End. Not "Something happened, this is why it happened."
    Such is the style of breaking news, which is first and foremost what you're going to find online. RTE does have a bad habit of not really following up on those stories though.


  • #16
    DMC
    Registered Users Posts: 10,726 ✭✭✭✭DMC


    Which is more down to the lines of demarcation between News and Current Affairs in RTÉ. In depth reports are more the domain of Prime Time, not necessarily the news bulletins. So thats what you see on the website, an online extension of the news bulletins. Its a bit better than it used to be, an internet extension of Aertel, and the limited amount of characters teletext could display. In fairness, they almost always link back to older articles.


  • #17
    lostexpectation
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,082 ✭✭✭lostexpectation


    anybody having trouble with rte newsclip on the web just often watch but then the other day I get this messsage

    The clip you've selected is only available in Windows Media format. Would you like to play it in Windows Media Player? You player preference won''t be affected.

    and then it gives you option to choose WMP
    or leave settings as there are

    but when I click on hte WMP button nothing happens :/


    never had trouble before?

    second clip there http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0426/enniscorthy.html


  • #18
    Deflector
    Registered Users Posts: 156 ✭✭Deflector


    What ridiculously clumsy language used for one of the biggest news stories of the year: "Mr Ahern's move followed weeks of speculation, and campaigning for the election, which had to be held no later than early June, has been in effect under way since at least the beginning of the year."

    And what sort of grammar is "Thursday 24 May". :rolleyes:

    Also a certain flippancy in: "By waiting this long, the Taoiseach and President McAleese made a little bit of history."

    Either they did or they didn't; it's not a script for an 'and finally' news story.


  • #19
    brianthebard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,165 ✭✭✭✭brianthebard


    mike65 wrote:
    There is a "rule" which says good factual TV (read media) should be aimed at an intellegent 12 year old. Sororicide is taking the pish. Unless said 12 year old is an Icelandic death metal fan

    Mike.

    Found the name for my new band then!:D


  • #20
    Judt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 594 ✭✭✭Judt


    aidan_walsh wrote:
    Such is the style of breaking news, which is first and foremost what you're going to find online. RTE does have a bad habit of not really following up on those stories though.
    Read BBC.co.uk/news? If you look at a breaking story of the course of a day you'll see how it develops: Breaking News, perhaps three paragraphs (same as RTE.ie). Then the story evolves as the day goes on. That's how you do it...

    I wonder how many people RTE have devoted to online news?

    I also read a bit on the election today, the look-back over the past five years of government. I read the RTE.ie report and it was, word for word, the RTE 6.1 news report.


  • #21
    lostexpectation
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,082 ✭✭✭lostexpectation


    Judt wrote:
    Read BBC.co.uk/news? If you look at a breaking story of the course of a day you'll see how it develops: Breaking News, perhaps three paragraphs (same as RTE.ie). Then the story evolves as the day goes on. That's how you do it...

    I wonder how many people RTE have devoted to online news?

    I also read a bit on the election today, the look-back over the past five years of government. I read the RTE.ie report and it was, word for word, the RTE 6.1 news report.


    bbc really work at their site, but it annoying that they don't highllight the actually latest sippet of breaking news they just hide it in their stories.


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  • #22
    monument
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 14,072 Mod ✭✭✭✭monument


    I think there was another thread on this topic after this, but anyway...

    RTE say that they have not received any complaints about the articles posted by the OP and a few other I asked about.


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