If you are, like me, disgusted with the article at perthnow.com.au - please feel free to cut and paste this letter to the editor.
[email protected]
Anthony,
I'd like to air my disgust at the article "Drunk pilot ejected from flight minutes before takeoff".
Let's get a few things straight:
1. The heading says the pilot was drunk. The first line says they were suspected of being drunk. The headline is sensationalist, and quite possibly completely false.
2. It further goes on to say about all airline pilots not being able to drink alcohol before flying. This demonstrates to me that the journalist has done absolutely no research, because it's a lot more complicated than this. The CASA limit is not 0.0% blood alcohol concentration (BAC), as your article would suggest. There are also additional conditions other than BAC, such as time limits.
I just don't understand how stories like this can get through the editing stage. The title is completely contradictory to the information your company actually has.
The writer most obviously hasn't taken what would probably amount to 2 minutes on google to find what the actual legislation is in this case.
Journalism used to involve getting information, verifying it, interviewing, researching and presenting a balanced and well informed piece.
It appears at perthnow.com.au it simply involves slapping an inflammatory headline on a couple of cut and paste quotes to "sell" the news.
I certainly will be looking elsewhere for news in the future, in the hope of finding some trace of journalistic integrity.
PS The photo and caption both indicate a Boeing 737-800. The main article body describes a 767-300... it is good to see your editors never let the facts get in the way of a good story, ey?