I appreciate Joe's general point, and it may well be correct. My point was simply that this particular imprecision was probably not an example of the practice that Joe describes.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Joseph E. Olson Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:25 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Media lies, distortions, and innocent errors Eugene is less cynical that I am. And that's a good thing. It's the consistency of errors, all in the same direction (even if a few boomerang like this one), that raises my suspicions. BTW, I had no suspecion until the day in 1994 (or thereabouts) when a Minneapolis Tribune reporter told me that he" knew that (the law) but it's not consistent with my story line" so he didn't mention it. Once burned, twice shy. The Tribune also has a "policy" that they have followed of printing at least one gun abuse story each week even if they have to go to Florida (2000 miles away) to find it. It's not news in Minnesota but it is a good way to condition your readers to draw the false conclusion that guns are often (always) misused. Here's an example from last week. http://www.startribune.com/nation/83981602.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU >>> "Guy Smith" 02/16/10 12:01 PM >>> Being both a marketing person (working with media) and the local gun policy go-to for reporters, I have an AP observation. The AP in particular rarely reports gun stories with technical accuracy. Much of their semantic skewing appears to come from their central office. The Alabama reporter might have known details about Alabama permits, but an upstream editor likely massaged it into its silly final product. I?m loath to accuse them of intentional distortion (what is the old line, ?never claim conspiracy when stupidity is a suitable explanation??) but AP?s rather consistent misrepresentation of facts vis-à-vis gun issues makes me believe policy is at play. Granted, their headquarters are in New York and the idea of not requiring ownership permits may be foreign in that territory, but that should not be an excuse for poor journalism. BTW, was the university a ?gun free? zone? Were CCW holders barred from carrying on campus? I have not had time to check. Guy Smith www.GunFacts.info<http://www.gunfacts.info/>
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
