Said no? Don't know

Looking at The Guardian feels like watching Wheel of Fortune!

Memes make the news

Surprised to see a popular meme illustrating an article on a major news website today

It's a sign the mainstream media is continuing to become more detached from reality.  

When I was young I wanted to be a journalist and gained a qualification, but found the jobs were all in public relations.

For many years I wondered how media organisations got away with using photographs from libraries that didn't reflect their localities.

Of course, it was an economic decision based on the fact they no longer had the advertising revenue to pay the wages of photojournalists.

Given the recent examples AI-written articles, I'm expecting to see a sixth finger appear on the handshakes of politicians in coming weeks!

Hey Google

Google has started giving general feedback

Is this a test?

I've a flare for this sort of writing
 

Yes, Minsiter

First they came for the subeditors, and I did not speak out—because I was illiterate

Mix & master

I'm certain they mean "route" rather than "root"

However, taking meaning from Australian slang, the idea that one can root to perfect a track is fantastic!

Unboxing

When I went the uni for the first time, they still had a Classics department

These days it seems as though many people who majored in Classics are now reworking the old stories from new directions.

Anyway, seems someone doesn't know the story of Pandora's box! 

Wrong Wright review

Been looking forward to seeing Edgar Wright's new film, Last Night In Soho

I decided to skip reading David Stratton's review in The Weekend Australian today, so that I didn't spoil it.

Then I noticed that he appears to give the film zero out of five.

This is disappointing as normally I rate David's reviews.

So I looked at the beginning and end of his piece and it seemed to be positive. 

Think the newspaper might've missed that detail. 

Excessive bike

 

Sniping in the headlines

It's the 21st Century yet the Sydney Morning Herald choose to focus on a candidate's relationship status in this headline

And it's a relationship status with a disgraced former state premier, which makes it seem like an attempt to discredit her before she even gets the opportunity to run for election.

Sow what?

English can be tricky when similar sounding words mean different things.

So I was curious when I read this headline and wondered if agricultural fashion had become an area of academic research?

No, it's a a typo and illustrates the need for subeditors.

Sowing seeds is planting them and often used as a metaphor, like the quote from the article here shows.

Had to smile while eating crocodile

I've wanted to try eating crocodile for a while and took the opportunity this week when I saw it discounted at the supermarket.

The flavour was a lot like chicken, although the texture was more like a bigger fish as I broke it apart in my mouth. It didn't have the same stringy-ness as chicken.

On the packet they describe it as "light like calimari" but it didn't have the same slickness. It felt more like a chicken nugget.

The salt and pepper preparation featured more of the former than the latter. It was very easy to cook in a frying pan and the line on the packaging that it was "As Nature Intended" made me wonder whether it was saltwater crocodile.

The copy elsewhere on the packaging provided further entertainment, from the offer to "bite back" on the front to the description "pre-historic protein" on the back. I was also amused to see the word "compliment" used instead of "complement" -- which might be my favourite typo to spot in the wild.

Amazing visual convulsion

"Fully exert your inaqination"!

The packaging for this poor imitation of Lego gave me a visual convulsion.

Eclipsed by a comic typo

It's no secret that I love reading horoscopes and also love typos, so finding the above was a doubly entertaining moment for me today.

Fires and heat

Ever since newspapers have cut back roles like sub-editing, it's become commonplace to find typos.

So I've had to look for spelling mistakes that add something more to the subject matter, such as those that work with the theme of the piece -- perhaps subconsiously.

Which is why I like this one, where the word 'heat' has been used instead of 'head' to follow the discussion of campfires.

Money fabulous

As a former editor I get a thrill finding typos in the local media.

This one is particularly great as the word that's wrong is like a 'Freudian slip' in the way it picks up on the theme of money from the paragraph before it.

Dopes

It's interesting to observe one of the local newspapers present the issue of medical marijuana after decades of the 'war on drugs'.

The image of a brown-skinned person smoking a joint is probably one that confirms biases among their ageing readership. It's a strange image for medical applications of the plant, seeing as smoking marijuana can cause health complications.

My understanding is that "medical marijuana" will be refined and presented as a medicine, such as hashish oil capsules or tinctures. Even if I'm wrong, it'd still be better to present images of people eating cakes or vapourising as these are healthier alternatives to smoking the so-called drug.

I write "so-called" as marijuana is a plant and the idea of a drug suggests a chemical that has been processed (like alcohol) or refined (like heroin).

Previously I commented on the apparent hypocrisy on the same news website, with stories on a drug raid accompanying one about medical imports being approved.

Wagging the dog

Winston S. Churchill is attributed with the line that "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on," but it's clearly an idea that is still relevant.

Last week a North American friend commented on Facebook about a search topic that seemed to be trending, the question whether "Obama is planning a coup".

When I read about this on Sunday night it occurred to me that it would probably be a couple of days before the Australian media picked up on the story.

Then on Tuesday morning I heard it discussed on ABC's Radio National, later finding this story online.

While there is no suggestion that former US President Obama is planning a coup, it's fascinating that it's widely a topic for discussion.

And that the Australian media is picking up on the discussion suggests to me 'the tail is wagging the dog,' because this kind of news story is a reaction to unofficial sources.

In the days before the number of PR professionals overtook the number of journalists, one would expect that a news story would contain researched opinions.

These days it seems like media organisations are trying to outpace more nimble and less newsy websites in pursuit of clickbait headlines to drive page views.

Bosltered

Women's rights symbolised with male

The Washington Post Express admit “We made a mistake on our cover this morning and we’re very embarrassed. We erroneously used a male symbol instead of a female symbol.”