Terry Cringle IOM newspapers..

[Max Power 4,629]

I think it's got a lot to do with the mass public requirement for news but as succinct as possible. I think that leads to multiple interpretations of the same story?

[Andy Onchan 2,602]

19 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

But the succession of simplified sentences has been the way of writing new stories for most of the 20th century. 

Sorry, I can't agree with that. Since the introduction of the internet perhaps but certainly not for hard-copy newspapers. Broadsheets carried comprehensive story telling (the FT still does from time-to-time).  

[Roger Mexico 5,518]

2 minutes ago, Andy Onchan said:

Sorry, I can't agree with that. Since the introduction of the internet perhaps but certainly not for hard-copy newspapers. Broadsheets carried comprehensive story telling (the FT still does from time-to-time).  

But it's never been true of local papers, which have to apply to the whole community.  The FT is a specialist paper and so able to assume greater knowledge and perhaps a more sophisticated level of literacy, but the other 'broadsheets' were never that much more likely to cover things properly.

If anything the internet has increased the possibility of more complex analysis and stories aren't tied down to the physical limitations of newsprint.  Though this is an option that most media outlets have been slow take up, the FT with its data journalism and the Guardian are the main traditional media exceptions.

[woolley 16,838]

@ Roger Mexico:

I usually agree with a lot of what you post, Roger, and when I don't I can often at least respect it for the research you put in, but I cannot concur with much of the above.

Perhaps there never was a golden age of journalistic writing, but it was certainly far better than what passes for acceptable today. Most of it is uninspiring and at worst it is incomprehensible. Ideally, if you are reading an article, the information should flow from the page into your mind imperceptibly. Aside from a general appreciation of the style, you should not be aware of the mechanics of writing word for word, in much the same way as you should not be aware of your knees when running. Some of the disjointed, ungrammatical, tortured pieces presented by even the most revered organs nowadays are so jarring that you are compelled to stop and work out firstly what they actually mean, and secondly marvel at how they managed to make it into print unamended. I should add that it isn't just journalism. Even advocates are not immune.

It's also nothing to do with modern format. Whether there is one sentence or five paragraphs has no bearing on how sloppy the content is. Nor does pressure of time excuse the presentation of rubbish. One thing I do agree on is the low priority afforded to the craft and the casualisation of reportage. It's lamentable, but in a world where people communicate in text abbreviations involving numerals and single letters replacing words and sentences, can we expect anything different? The craft is dying and, as I alluded, nobody really cares or even notices its passing.

[ecobob 592]

59 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

.Newspapers and similar have been famous for their typos for a long time - there never was a golden age of beautiful writing, impeccable grammar and correctly checked facts.  It's true the disappearance of sub-editors has meant that more may get through, but that is compensated for (a bit) by technology such as spelling and grammar checking  

While I agree with the rest of your post I might ask you to think again about this. Spelling and grammar checking has little to offer when both words are spelled correctly but the mistake in going online with an interchange of heroin and cocaine is surely a mistake beyond excuse. If it was a word like ‘and’ or but’ I’d agree with you but surely this is more serious? 

Edited September 20 by ecobob
Missed a word out (ironically)

[Rushen Spy 935]

14 hours ago, Stu Peters said:

 I expect Terry Cringle (getting back on track) shares similar values.

Which is exactly my point. I'm not suggesting anything dodgy going on, just that "they" tend to recruit "people" who closely resemble themselves.

[Roger Mexico 5,518]

4 minutes ago, ecobob said:

While I agree with the rest of your post I might ask you to think again about this. Spelling and grammar checking has little to offer when both words are spelled correctly but the mistake in going online with an interchange of heroin and cocaine is surely a mistake beyond excuse. If it was a word like ‘and’ or but’ I’d agree with you but surely this is more serious? 

Oh it's very sloppy, particularly because you're not sure which is correct.  It's even odder that they haven't corrected it.  I suppose it could have been a cocaine-smuggling ring that was diversifying its product range.  But these things have always happened, it's just before we didn't have the internet to tell everyone it happened - at best we could just point it out to the person next to us in the pub.

[LightBulb 222]

On 9/12/2019 at 11:23 PM, Stu Peters said:

Nope - I have good manners and don't think it's classy to disparage a chap in his 80's who is still working hard and doing something lots of people enjoy.

Of course, since you don't, it must be rubbish. What do YOU do that adds up to anything?

Stu,  just as amatter of interest, are the "history in mann" programs available on-line, that i can listen to  ?

[LightBulb 222]

On 9/13/2019 at 11:54 AM, Augustus said:

Like the late Harvey Briggs, Terry Cringle writes very enjoyably about the past. So, he makes the odd error. Who cares? At least he can string coherent sentences together, unlike most of IOM Newspapers.

Does Terry write an article in the local papers, or have / write a book about the "history of the isle of man" ?

Edited September 21 by LightBulb

[forestboy 598]

7 minutes ago, LightBulb said:

Stu,  just as amatter of interest, are the "history in mann" programs available on-line, that i can listen to  ?

Also Stu can you confirm you are leaving Talking Heads next month. If so that’ll be one listener lost to Manx Radio. 

[LightBulb 222]

On 9/18/2019 at 6:47 PM, gettafa said:

I enjoyed reading this week about the yacht that was wrecked on Douglas Beach and the information provided by Captain Carter. Two full pages of this and other nostalgia and photos.

Didn`t he have the nick name of "Star Carter" for some reason ?

[foxdaleliberationfront 551]

11 minutes ago, forestboy said:

Also Stu can you confirm you are leaving Talking Heads next month. If so that’ll be one listener lost to Manx Radio. 

And one gained... win, win, win! 

[Stu Peters 2,051]

I can't see History Mann on the 'Listen Later' section LB, so I'll ask on Monday. He does write (usually a double page) in the local paper, but I can't remember which one.

New schedule - one of you will be happy, one sad. The times they are a changin' but I'm not a twat wanting to steal anyone's thunder, unlike one poster who thinks he knows what's happening.

[Max Power 4,629]

1 hour ago, LightBulb said:

Didn`t he have the nick name of "Star Carter" for some reason ?

He did, not sure why but it must go back to his very young days as I can remember him doing car rallies when I was a teenager and he had that name then. Perhaps relating to his christian name, Ste or Stephen?

[Roger Mexico 5,518]

31 minutes ago, Stu Peters said:

I can't see History Mann on the 'Listen Later' section LB, so I'll ask on Monday. He does write (usually a double page) in the local paper, but I can't remember which one.

That's because History Man is shown as one of those new-fangled podcasts, Stu.  Though they only go back to February rather than the Upper Palaeolithic or whenever Cringle started doing them.  It's a pity the archive isn't older as I would imagine there would be more interest than some and at around 5 minutes they're hardly taking up much space.

The 'taster' online article for the Examiner always mentions Terry Cringle's Times Past feature, so presumably it's in that.  I suspect it must have a fair few fans or they wouldn't mention it each week.  It's possible that they can tell which articles are popular by looking at the page impressions that their online copy of the paper gets, though I'm not sure how many internet subscriptions they have.  Certainly they never put them on their main website, which might suggest they are valuable as an incentive to buy the paper, though there could be copyright reasons.