| Author |
Message |
    
Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
2616
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 04, 2006 - 08:17 pm: |   |
Okay, this keeps popping up in news reports.
When ___________ were contacted they did not return calls or did not immediately reply.
Or some variation of the line.
What it means is that we are reporting this even though it has not been confirmed. Now I ask you is this a responsible approach to journalism?
http://www.perrycomer.com
http://throughablindeye.blogspot.com/
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Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3476
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 04, 2006 - 08:38 pm: | |
Depends on the situation...such as if the news outlet is researching consumer complaints and the company doesn't want to talk about it...
Mindsight Moderator and ex-PA author
Aston's Blog |
Joyce Scarbrough
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
934
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 05, 2006 - 10:08 am: | |
I'd guess that being the first to report on something--even if it's unconfirmed--motivates a lot of these kind of reports. They all want to claim they "broke the story."
~Joyce Sterling Scarbrough
True Blue Forever
ISBN 0-9722385-9-X
Authors Ink Books
Different Roads
http://www.authorsinkbooks.com
Read the first chapters at http://www.authorsden.com/joycelscarbrough1
Waste time on Joyce's Blog http://joycescarbrough.blogspot.com
Senior Editor
Champagne Books
http://www.champagnebooks.com |
Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
2617
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 06, 2006 - 06:42 pm: | |
Pennsylvania state police were not immediately available for comment.
the Amish killings happened how long ago? The cops not available this late date to answer questions? Did the journalist even try or is this a cover phrase for not trying?
do you see my irritation with this comment appearing so often in news items?
http://www.perrycomer.com
http://throughablindeye.blogspot.com/
|
Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3479
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 06, 2006 - 09:06 pm: | |
They're probably being instructed not to talk to the media...it happens.
Mindsight Moderator and ex-PA author
Aston's Blog |
Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
2618
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 06, 2006 - 10:11 pm: | |
perhaps but I think it is more like "Well they're not going to answer the phone so we'll run the story anyway and say we tried but our calls were not immediately answered."
Look at how many recent news stories contain that line
http://www.perrycomer.com
http://throughablindeye.blogspot.com/
|
Tom Elkins
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
560
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 07, 2006 - 07:39 am: | |
Isn't that a split infinitive?
Tom Elkins
NORTH of TEXAS
www.authorsden.com/tomelkins |
Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
2619
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 07, 2006 - 08:17 am: | |
hee hee -- not immediately answered
check your newspapers or online and see how many times that phrase is appearing -- it's got to be a Democrat plot to destroy GW Bush
http://www.perrycomer.com
http://throughablindeye.blogspot.com/
|
Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
2635
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 12:23 pm: | |
A message left at the medical examiner's office "was not immediately returned."
okay if it was returned - when? what did they say? If it was not returned why not say so? errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
4 bodies found on turnpike in florida}
http://www.perrycomer.com
http://throughablindeye.blogspot.com/
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Tom Elkins
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
562
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 14, 2006 - 06:40 am: | |
Perry -
You still don't get it, I see. As a long-time newsman, I can reveal to you that it's really a nefarious plot to drive you crazy.
Tom Elkins
NORTH of TEXAS
www.authorsden.com/tomelkins |
Gloria Marlow
Unity Member
Post Number:
1880
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 14, 2006 - 10:21 am: | |
So, is the "immediately" what has you upset? Like, are you wondering if they returned the call just not immediately or if they just didn't return it at all and that is an excuse?
I think sometimes the news is run because it obviously happened, they just haven't gotten the full story yet. For instance, the bodies in Florida. Obviously, the event happened. Two adults and two small children were apparently shot and left on the turnpike. The woman was found with her body sheltering the children's bodies and there were tire prints pulling into and away from the scene. That's all that was known, but that was known to the news people. It is a complete story with or without the medical examiner's comment...the medical examiner's comment won't really change the story, but may confirm what has already been stated.
I think often they say it just so the public knows that they did try to get an accurate picture of the story. I know that there were times when I wrote just local interest stories that folks are difficult. Even when the story is about them, to benefit them, folks don't always want to say things that are going to be set in writing. Words are powerful.
From the same story, you gather that people in a nearby neighborhood heard shots around 3 a.m. This leads you to believe that this was when the murders happened. However, the medical examiner is the one who will give the time of death and he didn't comment yet, so they can't state for sure that this is when it happened. They can only say "this is what it looks like, but it hasn't been confirmed yet." If they said, "these folks were killed at 3a.m." and it turns out they were killed at 7 p.m., then that makes the paper unreliable. You have to make sure you check your facts and state your sources and if you have facts that seem to lead to other "facts", then you need to say that those latter "facts" are conjecture and you haven't bene able to confirm them. The paper never said "3 a.m. was the time of death", but the other facts led you to believe that. Not because the paper wants you to believe that, but because that's how the pieces fit together. Does that make any sense to anyone?
Gloria Davidson Marlow
**The Butterfly Game***Shades of Silence***Flowers for Megan**
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Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
2636
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 14, 2006 - 04:13 pm: | |
Gloria, the problem is the phrase not the facts
If they called why not say "Our phones calls were not returned" NOT "Our phone calls were not immediately returned." As Tom pointed out by "split infinity" the "not" in "NOT IMMEDIATELY" is unnecessary - either the calls were returned, or no call was made in return. In fact the whole phrase can be considered mis-leading
http://www.perrycomer.com
http://throughablindeye.blogspot.com/
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Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2890
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 14, 2006 - 07:49 pm: | |
Gloria,
Makes perfect sense to me.....
Claudia
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
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Tom Elkins
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
563
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 07:31 am: | |
Gloria -
I know what you mean. However these days my pet peeve is the plethora of unnecessary qualifiers on (or in) the news. The noun "suspect" should be expunged entirely. There are far too many "alleged"s. I get the feeling the scripts are being written by lawyers.
When a man robs a 7-11 and drives off in a car, he is not a "suspect". He's a robber (without a name). One intrepid reporter decided to do a six-month follow-up on a bank robbery. His lead went, "Police still have no suspects in the alleged robbery of the Ingram National Bank." Alleged robbery? Gotta watch those wily bankers.
Tom Elkins
NORTH of TEXAS
www.authorsden.com/tomelkins |
Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
2637
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 12:28 pm: | |
Tom, I'm gonna sue you suckca for calling my writing trash - it is alleged trash.
http://www.perrycomer.com
http://throughablindeye.blogspot.com/
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Tom Elkins
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
564
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 05:44 pm: | |
Perry - Get in line.
Tom Elkins
NORTH of TEXAS
www.authorsden.com/tomelkins |
Gloria Marlow
Unity Member
Post Number:
1881
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 06:40 pm: | |
Tom,
I would bet that many of the news scripts are written not by lawyers, but with lawyers in mind. I think everyone who says anything about anything has to qualify every word in order to avoid lawsuits.
Gloria
Gloria Davidson Marlow
**The Butterfly Game***Shades of Silence***Flowers for Megan**
|
Kevin R. Paglia
Wandering Member
Post Number:
203
Registered: 07-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 09:14 am: | |
I had a friend in the Chamber of Commerece around here who was in the paper often (since he was sort of the spokes man to the media for the chamber) and he said the most annoying thing about the media besides the fact that they misquoted him 75% of the time (his figure) was that he was once ascribed as "Not immediately returning the phone call". What bothered him was that they had never TRIED to call him. It makes me wonder how many "Not available for comment"s and "Did not return phone call"s are actually "We had thins much info and didn't have time to contact them.
I may be cynical in my old age but the only people I trust less than a polititian is a reporter.
Kevin |
Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
2649
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 20, 2006 - 03:02 pm: | |
Voorhis does not have a listed telephone number, and officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately return calls.
http://www.perrycomer.com
http://throughablindeye.blogspot.com/
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Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
2704
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 26, 2006 - 05:36 am: | |
maybe somebody , someplace was paying attention
if you read news you see that "no immediate reply" has been dropped, what is showing up often is:
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
http://www.perrycomer.com
http://throughablindeye.blogspot.com/
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Tom Elkins
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
594
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 26, 2006 - 08:14 am: | |
Perry - Those are two different circumstances. I detest the unidentified source. I trained my reporters to identify sources whenever possible. Or if they knew something to be true - verified it two or more times - but nobody wanted to be quoted, to simply assert it on their own. And I backed them. Your first instance would be one that comes up in a developing story. Mine were radio news operations. Radio can't show pictures, and it can't go into the massive detail the print media can. But radio has speed. We could get a story on the air while the TV crews were unloading their cameras, and hours before the paper went to press. So my people were urged to l. Get it right, and 2. Get it on the air. That meant often going with an incomplete story, then following up when further details became available. That situation begets the use of the phrase you initially complained of, although there certainly are other ways to say it.
Tom Elkins
NORTH of TEXAS
www.authorsden.com/tomelkins |
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