Alberta fumes over Chretien's promise to ratify Kyoto

[Asher]

dig dig dig
you dont do 'continued on page A5' in your newspapers? what do you think was all over those pages tingkai

completely clueless
totally and completely clueless

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Tingkai


Asher, try to understand something simple. There is no such thing in the news business as a "comparitive piece." Every news story should be balanced and fair.

Ya right. And when does that happen? Do I have to wait for hell to freeze over?

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
dig dig dig
you dont do 'continued on page A5' in your newspapers? what do you think was all over those pages tingkai

Yes, some newspapers make use of "continued on..." if a story is printed on more than one page. (although many newspapers specifically ban page turners )

But if part of this article was continued on another page, that has nothing to do with the question of bias in the article.

Nice try.

[Asher]

doesnt it annoy you when everything zings by your head at a hundred miles an hour?

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Ya right. And when does that happen? Do I have to wait for hell to freeze over?

You mean balance and fairness? It is something that we strive to achieve, although unfortunately, many articles are not balanced or fair. As well, achieving a level of balance and fairness that pleases everyone is impossible (See Asher's previous comment about the CBC).

By the way, when I say balance, I do not mean that everything will be perfectly even. Instead, in this context, I mean that reporters usually make an effort to show more than one side of a story.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
doesnt it annoy you when everything zings by your head at a hundred miles an hour?

I don't know. Never happens to me. Maybe you can tell us since you're the expert on it.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Tingkai
I don't know. Never happens to me. Maybe you can tell us since you're the expert on it.

that one is just downright clever
have you considered running for the liberal party

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
that one is just downright clever

Well, finally, we're in agreement.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
yay, Tingkai, there's more horribly biased news from the Herald

http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/story.asp?id={05FE2F1D-822D-4CE2-B3B9-2ADFAAA3C73A}

This is actually a good example of the weak journalism at the Herald.

The Herald takes a CP story and localizes it, a routine process at any newspaper.

The original version starts with a statement of fact: "Canada has no intention of meeting the conditions of the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions even though the government hopes to ratify it this fall, Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal confirmed Thursday."

Followed by opposing viewpoints:
"The government's position flabbergasted other signatories to the 1997 accord, appalled environmentalists, puzzled opponents and left even some Liberals scratching their heads."

The Herald changes the lead into something that is not true:"The future of the Kyoto accord was thrown into chaos Thursday after Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal confirmed Canada has no intention of meeting the conditions of the treaty on greenhouse gases."

The future of the Kyoto accord has not been thrown into chaos as the Herald claims. The Canadian government's position is rather confusing, and could be called chaotic, but not the future of the agreement.

This is a prime example of lazy journalism.

[Asher]

you dont think when the canadian government's position on the issue is chaotic that the future of the kyoto accord, as it is locally, is not thrown into chaos?

semantics
the last resort of desparate men

[KrazyHorse]

The key word is "locally". The line should have an appended "in Canada" on it...

[Asher]

perhaps they were lying on good ol' intuition
when it's talking about canada and canada's resource minister and kyoto being thrown into chaos, take a guess what they're talking about

[notyoueither]

There are some references in the article to how Canada adopting the treaty with conditions could lead to others doing the same thing... How is the Herald's position lazy?

[Tingkai]

Journalists tend to be rather anal when it comes to choosing words for a news story. If you saw something that said "located in Hong Kong and China" you wouldn't blink an eye, but any good editor would immediately notice that this is incorrect because it implies that Hong Kong is not part of China. Yup, it is anal, but that's what we get paid to do.

If the Herald wanted to say that the Canadian position on Kyoto was thrown into chaos then it should have written that. Instead, it took the lazy route out and ended up printing something that is not correct.

[Asher]

and this has to do with albertans only getting one side of the story....how