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Why do the media not understand railways.

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rebelrouser

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Reading the Hartlepool Mail today it described Horden's new station as a railway stop, how many other clangers do the media get wrong. I hate train station.
Passengers can now catch trains too and from a new £10.55 station with the stop hailed as the next move in bringing more jobs and cash into its neighbouring communities.

Horden train station is now open to passengers.
 
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hexagon789

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Reading the Hartlepool Mail today it described Horden's new station as a railway stop, how many other clangers do the media get wrong. I hate train station.

I think you have to ask what their primary concern is - it's not understanding railways, it's selling papers and finding stories to fill them with, everything else is of secondary concern.
 

Economist

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One journalist at the Telegraph a few years back described a Supermarine Spitfire as a "fighter jet" and got ripped to bits in the reader's comments section, shocking really in a broadsheet which probably recruits most of it's people from Oxbridge. So, nothing new here I'm afraid.

I do sense that the newspapers would probably be a bit better if they recruited as journalists the sort of people who could re-wire a house rather than the Oxbridge whizz-kids.
 

furnessvale

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Reading the Hartlepool Mail today it described Horden's new station as a railway stop, how many other clangers do the media get wrong. I hate train station.
My take on the media is as follows,

I know about railways and I know about canals. The media get most things wrong when discussing those two topics.

I know little about most other topics but the safest thing is to believe is that the media know as much about other things as they know about railways and canals.

Thus I take anything from the media with a great big pinch of salt.
 

Bald Rick

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My take on the media is as follows,

I know about railways and I know about canals. The media get most things wrong when discussing those two topics.

I know little about most other topics but the safest thing is to believe is that the media know as much about other things as they know about railways and canals.

Thus I take anything from the media with a great big pinch of salt.

A wise assessment!

Journalists, even transport specialists, by necessity have a wide field of stories to report on. They can’t possibly know everything about everything, and they have to report in a manner that their readers will understand.
 

PeterC

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Whatever your main topic of interest is you will always be infuriated by the way that the press get it wrong. It isn't just the railways.
 

birchesgreen

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There have always been problems but they are getting worse, but there arn't many "journalists" still around. Much of the paper/website these days will be written (or rather copied and pasted from press releases or social media) by interns and barely trained juniors.
 

Starmill

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Lack of resources. How many people who complain about 'the media' are paying, even if only a small monthly amount, for a high-quality outlet of their choice? There's BBC News too which is a bit better usually but not always. Some of which is funded through taxes but again if you're not buying a TV Licence any more... and even if you are it's still not enough funding for the best stuff.
 

pdeaves

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People, generally, seem reluctant to find out anything themselves or take an interest in any hobby (sport excepted, probably). Those people then get jobs as news wallahs.
 

furnessvale

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There have always been problems but they are getting worse, but there arn't many "journalists" still around. Much of the paper/website these days will be written (or rather copied and pasted from press releases or social media) by interns and barely trained juniors.
Classic example yesterday where I read the same article, poorly scripted probably by a native Spanish speaker, in half a dozen different transport outlets, about Kelloggs putting some freight on rail. If even one had rewritten it in proper english I may have better understood what they were on about.
 

DarloRich

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Reading the Hartlepool Mail today it described Horden's new station as a railway stop, how many other clangers do the media get wrong. I hate train station.

Did the words used mean people were unable to understand that a new station had opened? Apart for the pedantic focus on a word ( or that RUK perennial: the use of a free file photo) what was wrong about the story?



Journalists, even transport specialists, by necessity have a wide field of stories to report on. They can’t possibly know everything about everything, and they have to report in a manner that their readers will understand.

Absolutely.

Lack of resources. How many people who complain about 'the media' are paying, even if only a small monthly amount, for a high-quality outlet of their choice? There's BBC News too which is a bit better usually but not always. Some of which is funded through taxes but again if you're not buying a TV Licence any more... and even if you are it's still not enough funding for the best stuff.

there arn't many "journalists" still around. Much of the paper/website these days will be written (or rather copied and pasted from press releases or social media) by interns and barely trained juniors.


Agreed - these two quotes show the truth of the matter. Lack of funding means lack of quality. Local papers, like the Hartlepooh Mail are owned by massive news operations. This one is owned by Johnston Press ( who own my local paper and 100's of others) who are based in Scotland ( Falkirk?) and is produced and printed in Sunderland. There isnt some local newshound pounding the beat in Hartlpooh looking for scoops! it is a "churn" operation run on as small a budget as possible, with as few people as possible as cheaply as possible. These days the "paper" is much more online than print focused and designed to drive ad revenue.

People, generally, seem reluctant to find out anything themselves or take an interest in any hobby (sport excepted, probably). Those people then get jobs as news wallahs.

what are you talking about?
 

Purple Orange

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Reading the Hartlepool Mail today it described Horden's new station as a railway stop, how many other clangers do the media get wrong. I hate train station.

Why do you hate “train station” and what is wrong with “railway stop”?

Reverse the question and ask: why does the railways not understand the media? It doesn’t need an in depth knowledge, just enough to communicate effectively with the public and manage it’s PR.

I would argue that a reporter for a national or regional newspaper is more closely aligned to the thoughts and feelings of the passengers, than the vast majority of railway employees, given that there is a very high likelihood that journalists are for part of their day passengers. While railway staff view life through the lens of an employee.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Classic example yesterday where I read the same article, poorly scripted probably by a native Spanish speaker, in half a dozen different transport outlets, about Kelloggs putting some freight on rail. If even one had rewritten it in proper english I may have better understood what they were on about.
Is this the story... :?:

Every day's a school day! Never realised that Kellogg's owned the Pringles brand. ;)
 

LNW-GW Joint

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Headlines are also deliberately vague and are often half-truths, designed to grab your attention to buy or click.
You have to read the small print to discover the true scope of the piece, and even then you might not get the whole story.
I'm afraid in our world Rail magazine also follows this pattern and often fails to give the whole context of a news story.
It's not just main stream media.
News feeds are even worse, as they often show that the same "half-story" has been recycled into multiple outlets which pop up as "separate" stories.
Google search will then pick up all the feeds and keep replaying them ad infinitum.
It serves the fake news industry very well.
 

Mountain Man

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I think there needs to be a split.

There are things wrong, that are an actual issue and factually wrong.

But there are also things which may be phrased wrong, but perfectly understandable to the reader.

The former is a problem, the latter is an irritant but not worth getting as worked up about as some people do.
 

pdeaves

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what are you talking about?
People employed to peddle news have no interest in finding out even the basics of the particular story they are reporting on, so anything goes. Mistakes get through when they shouldn't if the 'reporter' had even a passing interest in getting things right (and no, I don't mean being an expert in everything).
 

lord rathmore

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My take on the media is as follows,

I know about railways and I know about canals. The media get most things wrong when discussing those two topics.

I know little about most other topics but the safest thing is to believe is that the media know as much about other things as they know about railways and canals.

Thus I take anything from the media with a great big pinch of salt.
The only sane approach. I know about electricity generation, and the inaccuracies, howlers and lies about that industry in the papers has led me (like you) to suspect most of the rest is tosh as well.
 

DarloRich

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People employed to peddle news have no interest in finding out even the basics of the particular story they are reporting on, so anything goes. Mistakes get through when they shouldn't if the 'reporter' had even a passing interest in getting things right (and no, I don't mean being an expert in everything).

I think you need to do some research about the nature of news gathering and especially local news gathering.
 

Energy

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I don't really mind railway stop and ones like it, what I do mind is when they state facts wrong despite an operator giving them as a main fact. For example when Avanti launched quite a few news sites stated that the Pendolinos were being replaced despite Avanti clearly stating that Pendolinos would stay and be refurbished and Voyagers would be getting replaced.
 

CaptainHaddock

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Reading the Hartlepool Mail today it described Horden's new station as a railway stop, how many other clangers do the media get wrong. I hate train station.

What form of transport will be stopping at the new Horden station? ;)
 

Ianno87

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I don't really mind railway stop and ones like it, what I do mind is when they state facts wrong despite an operator giving them as a main fact. For example when Avanti launched quite a few news sites stated that the Pendolinos were being replaced despite Avanti clearly stating that Pendolinos would stay and be refurbished and Voyagers would be getting replaced.
What form of transport will be stopping at the new Horden station? ;)

"Train station" and "Railway station" are equally acceptable. Both terms have been in use for pretty much as long as each other. We need to stop having this silly debate.
 

Energy

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"Train station" and "Railway station" are equally acceptable. Both terms have been in use for pretty much as long as each other. We need to stop having this silly debate.
Exactly, either is fine.
 

scotrail158713

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Whatever your main topic of interest is you will always be infuriated by the way that the press get it wrong. It isn't just the railways.
This. I take great interest in non-league football in Scotland, especially just now as there is a lot of change going on. I do therefore get annoyed when it’s mid-reported in the media, however I have come to realise it is actually a more complicated concept to understand than I initially thought. (I only realised this when I once tried to explain it to my Mum, who has next-to-no interest in football :D)
 

mmh

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Reading the Hartlepool Mail today it described Horden's new station as a railway stop, how many other clangers do the media get wrong. I hate train station.

They call it a station throughout the article. It's poor English to repeat a noun in a sentence, so the use of stop is actually good in the headline.

I also dislike "train station," but do use it when speaking Welsh, which I can't completely explain. They don't appear to have used it though.
 

MoleStation

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*under the main headline*

A new £10.55 station? Where was the old £10.55 station(stop)?
And 'too' not to. Bloody disgraceful.
 

LAX54

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"Train station" and "Railway station" are equally acceptable. Both terms have been in use for pretty much as long as each other. We need to stop having this silly debate.

Either is fine, but one could argue that Train Station is correct, (like Bus Station or Coach Station), you get on a 'train' at a 'station', thus Train Station, you do not get on a 'Railway', well unless you are tresspassing !
 

70014IronDuke

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A wise assessment!

Journalists, even transport specialists, by necessity have a wide field of stories to report on. They can’t possibly know everything about everything, and they have to report in a manner that their readers will understand.
This was true in days of yore as well - although to a lesser extent, because most journalists had also been in the forces or whatever, so had broader experience. Newsrooms are smaller, so there is not the experience on an elbow to elbow basis. Then there is the time pressure. The old print deadline no longer rules, and even if the journo wants to phone around and check up on something, the publisher doesn't want that. Just churn out the stories. There are exceptions, of course, such as the Economist and FT.
 

70014IronDuke

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The only sane approach. I know about electricity generation, and the inaccuracies, howlers and lies about that industry in the papers has led me (like you) to suspect most of the rest is tosh as well.
Ha ha! I know. I used to write about energy - usually within the first two sentences you can tell if the journo/editor is an amateur or otherwise. More often than not they simply don't understand the difference between electricity and capacity/demand/power. Peak load/generation and average load/generation is another one.
 
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