A slight tangent; I vividly remember being about twelve and directly knowing people involved in a story that made the national news.

[frost@social.crystal-blue.xyz]

A slight tangent; I vividly remember being about twelve and directly knowing people involved in a story that made the national news. BBC coverage, etc. And I was totally shocked that the report was essentially... pure nonsense?

Not in the he-said, she-said way, but really basic, verifiable facts that had a massive impact on the story were wrong. Like 'John Doe has now been hospitalised as a result of the incident' when in reality, I'd spoken to him in his front garden about ten minutes before. Or when a woman labelled 'Jane Doe, neighbour' was interviewed as part of the segment... Except this was a completely different woman, who wasn't a neighbour at all and didn't know any of the involved people in the first place.

It was really quite shocking to me at the time, as I still fully believed that news was all verified and fact-checked. It was a real watershed moment to realise this wasn't the case at all.

#thoughts #blogging

[frost@social.crystal-blue.xyz]

The actual Jane Doe didn't want to be on TV, and the mislabelled Jane Doe basically waffled about it all being a terrible tragedy without being able to answer any of the questions. It baffled me that they didn't even verify who they were interviewing before it was broadcast across the country. Such a quick and simple check.