Is it so hard.. ?

[Pekka]

I mean really.. common sense, when writing official stuff about stuff, how about getting the most important things right. Common sense, yes?

I was browsing web for Conan O'Brien related info about his trip to Finland this month, and came up with this article:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Entertainment/story?id=1510176

and let me quote:

"Would fish be as abundant if Sauli Ninisto became president?"

First of all, it's Sauli Niinistö. OK so you can't afford umlauts? How about Niinisto? He wasn't just some candidate, he was the leader of the conservative party (national coalition), he was a minister in the gorvernment, one of the most influential people in here basically plus he now currently is the vice president of EIB (European Investment Bank), and had leading position in EBRD and a member of IMFC. And also challenged the current president for presidency.

THen I read the article and later on it says..

Hanolen was just shy of the mark — so now O'Brien will have two more weeks until the runoff to make jokes.

OK, how about getting the name of the president right?

It's not like I tried to search for errors, the last time, just yesterday, I saw a clip about Conan's gag and how it has caught the attention of some media in the US and Fox News reported on it, calling Halonen the Prime Minister of Finland? wtf? I mean, I know Fox News has nothing against us but they get this kind of information mixed up, how can you trust anything they say? I mean really, you think it's no big deal. THat's right, because you who think this way, you have an attitude problem. It is a big deal, for the sake of YOUR knowledge. I know how it is, how they spell them, but you don't and you never will know, since official news rooms can't get them right.

Thus my question, is it really that difficult? Because it's not. So is it because some people in the news business are lazy, or because they really are that stupid?

And yes, these two cases would be the last I heard from US media regarding our nation, in a row now. Can't remember the third one, but last 3 have had problems such as these, can't spell simple names, adn don't know who the president is. It's not like they have to know it, they have to find out and then tell the news. How difficult is that? Apparently it is.

[snoopy369]

Wait, so did the candidate who looks like Conan win?

[Verto]

No one gives a **** about Finland.

[Asher]

I care about Finland. It is a manly country.

So few people yet so many good hockey players. And no sissy baseball/golf/football players.

[Pekka]

snoopy, yeah .. she won.

My point is it's so easy to spell names correctly. It doesn't take any effort since you can check it out from somewhere. So why do they constantly get it wrong?

[Asher]

Niityymakkii

[Pekka]

.. You know his name means literally field hill?

Niitty = Field , Mäki = Hill..

[Pekka]

Really interesting, isn't it?

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Asher
I care about Finland. It is a manly country.

So few people yet so many good hockey players. And no sissy baseball/golf/football players.

And so much sweaty man-love in the saunas.

[snoopy369]

Conan O'Brien, President of Finland

(And i totally understand your stance, although spelling isn't my issue, grammar ... it's my opinion everywhere that it's a job requirement of a news anchor or writer to understand grammar really, really well, so that you can butcher it adequately)

[Pekka]

Right, and how the hell do you take our president for prime minister? I mean, he said something in the lines of 'The prime minister Halonen is running for another presidency'.... I mean I had to rewind because I thought I just heard it wrong. How stupid is that?