How to handle interviews
In the light of MP Kerry McCarthy saying that she was misquoted in a sunday newspaper about the call to DNA test every male in the Bristol and surrounding areas here is a quick summary in how such interviews go.
Reporter: Excuse me, I’m from the Daily Mail, could you answer a few questions for me.
Doctor: I suppose so.
Conversation about recent news story relevant to interviewees field of study ensues.
R: Do you think hormone treatment would have an effect?
Dr: Well something would certainly happen, it would take a lot of research and the’re be all the ethical aspects to be considered.
R: So, it wouldn’t be like the Not the Nine O’Clock news sketch about two experts actually agreeing on youth violence… “Chop off” something wasn’t it?
Dr: Yes, Goolies, “Chop off the goolies”. Yes, that was funny wasn’t it.
R: Just one more thing, a bit of background. Do you have any hobbies?
Dr: I entertain at children’s parties. Bit of an act.
R: thank you Dr.
Next day story – “CHOP OFF GOOLIES!” says Clown Doctor. This man, who could even now be with your children pretending to…..
H/T to anonymous commentator in El Reg.
SBML
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January 13, 2011 at 13:44 -
Oh, absolutely! Only a complete room-temperature-IQ moron could possibly not see the pitfall gaping open before her.
Which makes you wonder why NuLab made her their ‘Twitter Czar’, doesn’t it?
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January 13, 2011 at 17:29 -
I agree : they could have saved themselves seven letters and a space. On the other paw, there are already many of those in Labour …
ΠΞ
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January 13, 2011 at 14:03 -
She is a bit dim even amongst the pantheon of Labour dimness
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January 13, 2011 at 14:50 -
Sometimes, it’s more subtle.
I used to earn my living as a member of a large team designing high-integrity chemical process plants. The safety implications of leaks from, or failures to, those plants was very comsiderable, so everybody took their responsibilities very seriously. On the very few occasions that an ‘incident’ happened on the plant, the company issued press releases about what happened. Having been close enough to some of these incidents, I can vouch for the accuracy and completeness of the press releases – there was never any attempt to conceal what was known. However, it was surprising to see how the matters were reported by the press – reports, including from such ‘august’ bodies as the BBC, were almost always skewed to a particular agenda. Objective they were not.
First rule of journalism – never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
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January 13, 2011 at 15:05 -
They made McCarthy twitter czar because she had one of them newfangled twittering account, and with Bevanite Ellie to back her up what could possibly go wrong?
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January 13, 2011 at 15:16 -
Isn’t funny that anyone who knows anything about a story almost invariably finds that the press reports are misleading, wrong, or entirely made up? There are a couple of blogs out there dealing with news fiascos in particular fields, but it would be more amusing, and revealing, to deal with a range of stories from a single source.
Is there anything of this sort out there? Presumably someone’s already thought of it.
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January 13, 2011 at 16:39 -
You could try http://themediablog.typepad.com/
or the Angry Mob at http://www.butireaditinthepaper.co.uk/Then there’s Mail Watch at http://www.mailwatch.co.uk/
and Tabloid Watch at http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.com/That should keep you busy for a while!
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January 13, 2011 at 16:42 -
and my latest haunt…….Guardian Watch – http://graunwatch.wordpress.com/
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January 13, 2011 at 19:54 -
Thanks for that Anna… didn’t know about that one.
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January 13, 2011 at 20:54 -
Please, no more such single theme sites! They are universally dreary and uninspiring and likely to depress the spirits of most of us.
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January 13, 2011 at 21:06 -
OK, but how about this one? It’s a Daily Mail front page generator, allowing you to come up with your own headlines. It has all your favourite themes, from Paedophiles to House Prices. Fun for all the family.
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January 13, 2011 at 21:00 -
mercy buckets.
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January 13, 2011 at 20:21 -
Reporter: Excuse me, I’m from the Sun, could you answer a few questions for me.
Jim: Sod off you parasitic scum.
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January 14, 2011 at 09:03 -
“To my mind, the freedom not to give a DNA sample is nowhere near as important as the freedom to be able to walk the streets without being raped or murdered, and if having a comprehensive DNA database helps take even a few rapists and murderers off the streets, it’s a price worth paying.
…
Which is why I was keen on a voluntary national DNA database, and to be honest, wouldn’t have objected to this at some point becoming compulsory. Some will see this as hideously authoritarian… I don’t.”Interesting – the good of the few outweighs the trampling on the rights of the many. It is certainly authoritarian – hideous or otherwise.
MPoV – I would be happy to provide a DNA sample if I were a rational suspect or if, not being a suspect, I had had contact with the victim or the crime scene (elimination sample). If I just happened to be “white male living in vicinity”, they can eff right off.
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