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Lazy Journalism

Excerpt: Tom H at Let's be Sensible has a good piece on the Observer talking mostly rubbish about violent crime and you can read Tom's piece here. The same Observer article also states:
Submitted by Simon Mollan on 16 July 2006 - 6:28pm

Tom H at Let's be Sensible has a good piece on the Observer talking mostly rubbish about violent crime and you can read Tom's piece here. The same Observer article also states:

Hilary Armstrong will also announce proposals to target babies and toddlers under two in the war on antisocial behaviour....

What? ASBOs all round? Take them into care for tantrums in supermarkets, or (my personal dislike) crying on public transport?

Well, in reality the plan is more sensible that that, but "targetting" babies and toddlers under two is really rather suggestive.


Comments

On 16 July 2006 - 6:53pm, Chris Black (not verified) wrote:

In an Essex supermarket about a year ago I heard an agitated mother saying to her little girl, aged about four:

"... and stealing's a sin as well!"

Can't make up my mind as to whether you should use the word 'sin' with a four-year-old. And I really do wonder what the other sin was.


On 16 July 2006 - 7:28pm, Simon Mollan wrote:

I think that the use of the word "sin" is absolutely fine as long as it is designed to convey to the child a sense of right and wrong, rather than attributing to a child some form of theological damnation.


On 17 July 2006 - 12:27pm, James (not verified) wrote:

Journalism is certainly lazy in a number of ways. One of the most widespread but also amusing was recently bought my attention in a 'Comment is Free' page on 'The Times' website, namely that there is an absurd level of 'London Centricism' amongst the so called national broadsheets.

In this instance, an entire column of The Times had been taken up by a London columnist complaining about the vindictiveness of car parking policies in his local borough. An enraged correspondent replied along the lines of: 'Are you aware that there are some places in Britain that are NOT LONDON? - and that in this place known as NOT LONDON, car parking is not quite issue it may seem to you?'

This left me in hysterics, but it would do no harm for broadsheets such The Guardian to tip their hats to their origins at 'The Manchester Guardian'.