I am starting to have real trouble with the BBC and their editorial staff, being British they are pretty much the de-facto source for news for vast swathes of the British public, indeed within my rather large extended family I have never known a national event to be watched on ITV. It is always the BBD one reached for in time of need. The death and funeral of Princess Dianna, the World Trade Centre Attack, the recent Royal Wedding, even the archives I've ever watched are of BBC source.
So, why is it that such a megalith, this pillar of our information community are publishing such utterly wrong statements, bad spelling, implausible grammar and just plain bad typographical mistakes is beyond me.
I'm just a blogger, I'm just a bloke in an office, but I sit and read these little short articles from the BBC and I'm amazed at how many mistakes, of all kinds, there are in them.
Here's one from today. An interesting historical piece, I believe written by jobbing historian Dan Snow. As the son of the man famous for his opinion poll swing arm during election nights you'd think Dan would have a grounding not only in history, but in even mindedness, but it seems he's slipped up... he states... and with the BBC logo above him this might become de-facto information used by other sources (who knows by someone's school report or a project) he speaks of the Spitfire fighter from World War II and states:
"Its [the Spitfire] design was so advanced that it became the only fighter aircraft in WWII that served on the front line from the first to the last day of the war."
So, why is it that such a megalith, this pillar of our information community are publishing such utterly wrong statements, bad spelling, implausible grammar and just plain bad typographical mistakes is beyond me.
I'm just a blogger, I'm just a bloke in an office, but I sit and read these little short articles from the BBC and I'm amazed at how many mistakes, of all kinds, there are in them.
Here's one from today. An interesting historical piece, I believe written by jobbing historian Dan Snow. As the son of the man famous for his opinion poll swing arm during election nights you'd think Dan would have a grounding not only in history, but in even mindedness, but it seems he's slipped up... he states... and with the BBC logo above him this might become de-facto information used by other sources (who knows by someone's school report or a project) he speaks of the Spitfire fighter from World War II and states:
"Its [the Spitfire] design was so advanced that it became the only fighter aircraft in WWII that served on the front line from the first to the last day of the war."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13924720
What utter poppycock, other fighters faught throughout the war and had arguably the same basic design. The Messerschmitt 109 for example, fought as part of the Luftwaffe and their Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War right through to the fall of Germany and beyond with other nations. You might say "ah, but there were many different models of the 109... yes, yes there were... and just as many different models of the Spitfire, the MkI Spitfire of 1939 was certainly not the model being flown by Ronald Wolfe when it crashed in Ireland.
So, Mr Snow has mad a cock up there, big deal you may ask. And I do ask, who vets, or more importantly veto's these statements? It seems Auntie's favourite internal activity - censure and correctness - has been forced roughly into a back seat with the dawning of this our new digital information driven age.
And what's suffering? All the things the nay sayers and technofeebles of the past said would happen, peoples spelling and attention to detail is getting too fleeting, too transient. And I for one don't think that's a good thing.
Maybe its just me, as I'm on a personal drive to improve the standard of work I produce professionally, but if I can aim higher than usual surely people like Dan Snow with the BBC as their sounding post can aim that bit higher too. Check your facts, proof read make your statements concise and contiguous. And for goodness sake make sure what you've written is worth reading... I don't have to bother, I'm just a blogger... but maybe I should care...
What utter poppycock, other fighters faught throughout the war and had arguably the same basic design. The Messerschmitt 109 for example, fought as part of the Luftwaffe and their Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War right through to the fall of Germany and beyond with other nations. You might say "ah, but there were many different models of the 109... yes, yes there were... and just as many different models of the Spitfire, the MkI Spitfire of 1939 was certainly not the model being flown by Ronald Wolfe when it crashed in Ireland.
So, Mr Snow has mad a cock up there, big deal you may ask. And I do ask, who vets, or more importantly veto's these statements? It seems Auntie's favourite internal activity - censure and correctness - has been forced roughly into a back seat with the dawning of this our new digital information driven age.
And what's suffering? All the things the nay sayers and technofeebles of the past said would happen, peoples spelling and attention to detail is getting too fleeting, too transient. And I for one don't think that's a good thing.
Maybe its just me, as I'm on a personal drive to improve the standard of work I produce professionally, but if I can aim higher than usual surely people like Dan Snow with the BBC as their sounding post can aim that bit higher too. Check your facts, proof read make your statements concise and contiguous. And for goodness sake make sure what you've written is worth reading... I don't have to bother, I'm just a blogger... but maybe I should care...
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