January 2008 Entries Links Communication |
Sloppy - January 21 In this television market there are three network affiliates with local news programs. I tend to watch one of them more regularly than the others, but I have felt okay about watching the others if for some reason (usually football) my news program of choice wasn't available. So Saturday I was watching my least-favorite of the three. All was going along well, mostly sweet little stories about the snowstorm. Then came discussion having to do with various events in memory of Martin Luther King, and I was completely floored to hear the anchorwoman announce something about an appearance by Marian Wright Edelman. What floored me was not that Dr. Edelman was mentioned, or that she was involved in one of the events honoring Dr. King. The stunner was that the anchor referred to Dr. Edelman not once but twice as "he." This is the kind of sloppiness that makes that station my least favorite. Since it was very close to the end of the newscast, I didn't bother to dig up reference material and request a correction (I never expect a television station to take my word about corrections to news items, since I'm an unknown quantity). But I'm pretty sure I won't waste my television viewing time on them again. I just don't need the sloppy.
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