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Comparisons in reporting

2009-12-17 02:37:23.732094+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

Thanks, Lyn, for pointing this out: A police officer in D.C. has been arrested on a murder charge. What's interesting about this particular situation is a difference in reporting: Here's the Washington Examiner story, and here's the Washington Post story.

I could start by pointing out that the WaPo clearly pays its employees by the word, but egads the difference in reporting, and how clearly the events are communicated, is amazing, and WaPo doesn't come out well.

Speaking of which, I was listening to this week's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, with CNN reporter Rick Sanchez in the "Not My Job" segment and... wow. First thing: Can we get some reporters who have a clue about the difference between watts and volts?

[ related topics: Work, productivity and environment Law Enforcement Heinlein Pop Culture ]

comments in descending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2009-12-17 15:52:09.760524+00 by: Dan Lyke

In those cases, I think they're probably just parroting what the utility companies are saying, "this is a 12 megawatt power plant"...

Speaking of that, if I hear the "when the screen is off your flat panel uses 75% as much power as when it's on" thing one more time I'm gonna smack someone. To be fair, last time I heard that was from someone in the power business, as testimony at the last Petaluma T&TAC...

#Comment Re: made: 2009-12-17 14:05:12.175241+00 by: andylyke

My favorite flag of ignorance in the media is the use of the Watt as a unit of energy. "This plant produces 12 million Watts of energy per year". If energy and the by products of its conversion and consumption is the societal concern of the future, somebody needs to give the newsies a quick course in it.

#Comment Re: made: 2009-12-17 11:59:38.523662+00 by: Larry Burton

It's the difference between writing something to be published on paper and writing something to be published online. On paper the advertising and reporting compete for real estate. Online the longer the story, the more pages it spans, the more opportunities for displaying ads. As a reader I want the story written like it was in the Examiner. As someone who wants as many ads displayed as possible I would want the story written as in the Post.