Misrepresentation
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Stuck on 50:30 North
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To be fair, the moralist in me says that reporters are only doing their job. selling newspapers, reporting etc, is a cut - throat business.
However, and its a big HOWEVER, there is a line between decency and accuracy which is all too often stepped over. I was working out of ABZ at the time of the Piper Alpha disaster and crewed the 1st aircraft on scene at the Ocean Oddesy incident. Aberdeen at the time was crawling with the worlds press who would stop at nothing to get a story, interview or picture. The lenghts they would go to begger belief, even posing as a survivor of the Oddesy to gain access to the hotel to interview the REAL survivors! They were nothing short of animals, not worthy of a place on this earth!
I have not bought a daily paper since then. A token gesture in the great scheme of things agreed, but one I feel comfortable with.
We will probably not change the world of the journalist, but if we all voted with our feet!! Who knows?
Until reporters start asking the right people, OR, bodies such as BHAB start standing up for our industry, it will remain forever thus.
BB
However, and its a big HOWEVER, there is a line between decency and accuracy which is all too often stepped over. I was working out of ABZ at the time of the Piper Alpha disaster and crewed the 1st aircraft on scene at the Ocean Oddesy incident. Aberdeen at the time was crawling with the worlds press who would stop at nothing to get a story, interview or picture. The lenghts they would go to begger belief, even posing as a survivor of the Oddesy to gain access to the hotel to interview the REAL survivors! They were nothing short of animals, not worthy of a place on this earth!
I have not bought a daily paper since then. A token gesture in the great scheme of things agreed, but one I feel comfortable with.
We will probably not change the world of the journalist, but if we all voted with our feet!! Who knows?
Until reporters start asking the right people, OR, bodies such as BHAB start standing up for our industry, it will remain forever thus.
BB
Join Date: Feb 2003
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The Mirror's worst crime is INCONSISTENCY. Remember, the previous day to this pile of twaddle, they had a cool, calm, balanced report which featured a large picture not only of the right type of a/c but the actual a/c in question on an earlier flight. The report (like most) had the email address of the journo in question, but I tried three times to send a message saying 'well done, very accurate and no sensationalising' and it bounced back every time.
Join Date: Feb 2005
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And there's only one way to do that in the long term - write well and get your facts right.That is if it's ok for you to drop the hint where without upsetting the boundaries of this outfit????
tet
The Original Whirly
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Today's Pilot and Flight Training News pretty regularly, if you really, really want to know. Other places occasionally. And I edit the BWPA newsletter....which means I usually end up writing a fair proportion of it. 
Now, I don't guarantee that absolutely everything I've written is 100% accurate, but I really, really try!
Now, I don't guarantee that absolutely everything I've written is 100% accurate, but I really, really try!
Just in case any red-top journalist is looking for a quote from a frequent flyer to offshore ironmongery, I've done it regularly for the last 10 years, I shall continue to do so until my employment is no longer required, and I'm certain that my colleagues and I will have no hesitation in stepping onboard whichever aircraft is selected for our needs.
Not that it'll sell any papers.............
If you want to play with 'statistics', I'm more likely to get hurt in transit to the heliport, or, for that matter at work, than down the back.
Not that it'll sell any papers.............
If you want to play with 'statistics', I'm more likely to get hurt in transit to the heliport, or, for that matter at work, than down the back.
Join Date: Feb 2003
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Misrepresentation?
Yes, it's misrepresentation, but only of the facts. Misrepresent a person, company, etc and, as a journalist, the law kicks-in.
Can't find the thread from a year or two back (help me out here Hilico/Heliport), but wasn't it the Daily Mirror that hired a helicopter for a pleasure trip over London's Houses of Parliament, took a photo of Big Ben, and then ran a screaming headline about how they could have hijacked the craft and sent it crashing into the seat of government... blah, blah
. Strangely, the paper wasn't so concerned about its employees' basic safety then.
At the risk of boring everyone again, I'll repeat that nothing will change until a positive PR campaign is mounted. The UK's trucking industry largely turned round its image by being more...well...articulate. So, at least the model and the know-how is already there.
Any volunteers?
Dan
(an ex-editor of Helicopter World who declined to contribute to this week's media coverage on the grounds he wasn't there, doesn't have the facts to hand and won't speculate where it isn't helpful) Call me old-fashioned, I suppose
And the daily road death toll in the UK is 10, and around 120 across western Europe
Can't find the thread from a year or two back (help me out here Hilico/Heliport), but wasn't it the Daily Mirror that hired a helicopter for a pleasure trip over London's Houses of Parliament, took a photo of Big Ben, and then ran a screaming headline about how they could have hijacked the craft and sent it crashing into the seat of government... blah, blah
. Strangely, the paper wasn't so concerned about its employees' basic safety then.At the risk of boring everyone again, I'll repeat that nothing will change until a positive PR campaign is mounted. The UK's trucking industry largely turned round its image by being more...well...articulate. So, at least the model and the know-how is already there.
Any volunteers?
Dan
(an ex-editor of Helicopter World who declined to contribute to this week's media coverage on the grounds he wasn't there, doesn't have the facts to hand and won't speculate where it isn't helpful) Call me old-fashioned, I suppose
And the daily road death toll in the UK is 10, and around 120 across western Europe
Last edited by Dantruck; 31st Dec 2006 at 07:22. Reason: The cat walked across me keyboard - honest!
Thread Starter
Of course whoateallthepies... that is my first line in this post! 'Dangerous territory I know... but head on the block I go...'
I still thought I would go there, life is too short! As an aside only rarely does anyone actually get around to stating which bits I get wrong as a specific! Lots of grey bits that are easy to shrug off as unproven this end!
What the DM journalist was trying to do [regardless of the underlying reason] is undertaken annually by Learmont at Flight and I often find he misses some I have [and has many I do not] so if he cannot get a finite list out with all their resources I guess anyone else would be foolish to even try. A lack of a common oil industry or Irish Sea thread was perhaps the biggest mistake in the list the DM presented. Perhaps it was snatched from the Internet with only an hour or two to play with. Who knows.
As my old school report constantly accused [back in the last century].... 'he must try harder'
Happy New Year to all.
I still thought I would go there, life is too short! As an aside only rarely does anyone actually get around to stating which bits I get wrong as a specific! Lots of grey bits that are easy to shrug off as unproven this end!
What the DM journalist was trying to do [regardless of the underlying reason] is undertaken annually by Learmont at Flight and I often find he misses some I have [and has many I do not] so if he cannot get a finite list out with all their resources I guess anyone else would be foolish to even try. A lack of a common oil industry or Irish Sea thread was perhaps the biggest mistake in the list the DM presented. Perhaps it was snatched from the Internet with only an hour or two to play with. Who knows.
As my old school report constantly accused [back in the last century].... 'he must try harder'
Happy New Year to all.
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I think you are right. Just a hack journalist who searched "Helicopter Crash" for some sensationalism following the sad crash in Morecambe Bay.
He's just an idiotic pillock making his living.
(OK maybe he is a very nice chap but what he wrote makes him a pillock).
He's just an idiotic pillock making his living.
(OK maybe he is a very nice chap but what he wrote makes him a pillock).
Join Date: Apr 2006
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I very recently saw a note in cycling shop and meant to get the source, it was along the lines of Deaths in the UK and went somthing like...
OBESITY 37,000 pa
SMOKING 35,000 pa
CAR / ROAD 3500 pa
HOME 2000 pa
DIY 700 pa
CYLING 170 pa
PLANES / HELICOPTERS 50 pa
Sorry the figures are not accurate and there were a few more categories but I thought put things in some perspective.
PS Dont eat, drink or smoke to much tonight !!!
OBESITY 37,000 pa
SMOKING 35,000 pa
CAR / ROAD 3500 pa
HOME 2000 pa
DIY 700 pa
CYLING 170 pa
PLANES / HELICOPTERS 50 pa
Sorry the figures are not accurate and there were a few more categories but I thought put things in some perspective.
PS Dont eat, drink or smoke to much tonight !!!
Join Date: Nov 2004
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Well gents, I've just put my money where my mouth is and e-mailed the Mirror, I would suggest that some of you do too. You never know it might make them think a little before writing such drivel, after all aren't they meant to be intelligent people?
I have asked for the gentleman to be given a good kick up the arse for his frankly insulting article, at a time when lots of families have lost loved ones.
I have asked for the gentleman to be given a good kick up the arse for his frankly insulting article, at a time when lots of families have lost loved ones.
