Standard of journalism

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It would be hard not to be depressed and pessimistic about the exit from C-19 after looking at the pictures of Richmond Falls and Durdle Door and while I can see no extenuating circumstances for the former, the latter is a bit more complicated. Reading the various news reports, what was striking was the inconsistencies between them. Was it 2 or 4 people injured, had they all been injured jumping off Durdle Door or was one injured on the path, were there brawls, was the fire any more than a minor nuisance and, most striking, is Durdle Door 200 feet high or 70 feet high? The Sun (obviously nothing learnt from Hillsborough) helpfully has a scale alongside showing the top at 200 feet.

I checked my battered copy of Rockfax 5 and found: 'If not up to the climbing, it is a great place to bring the family to dive from the highest point of the arch (about 25m)!' I see no particular problem with including that somewhat tongue-in-cheek sentence. Climbing is a pastime where you have to make judgments and live or die by them. Although I suppose if it encourages people to copy who have not checked the water depth, do not have experience going off the top board at a swimming pool etc, it might be seen as a little irresponsible. Nobody without climbing experience is going to copy someone climbing E5 but they might just think making a big splash will look impressive.

I am not condoning any stupid acts but the problem seems to be that members of the public doing stupid things (and there are always examples) is a better story than asking what might be behind it. So going to A&E with a splinter, buying 100 toilet rolls or driving 20 miles to test your eyesight will all grab headlines much better than people at their wits' end trying to see their GP or stocking up a little in case they are incapacitated for a couple of weeks with C-19. I'm struggling to justify the eye test.

Clearly those at the beach mostly would not have guessed it would have been so crowded when they set out and the responsible thing to do when they saw how crowded it had become would have been to leave the beach or turn round and go home without getting far on the path. But with a car full of a cabin-fevered family, that might not be popular

I know newspapers are having a hard time, are working on a fraction of the number of staff they used to have and are desperate to lure in readers but if the stories are so second-hand and inaccurate, are they worth posting?

Steve T

 Doug 31 May 2020
In reply to Steve T Brighton:

well according to the Guardian

"Videos posted on social media showed people climbing and leaping from the 200ft-high (16-metre) arch at the site."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/may/31/durdle-door-remains-closed-...

surely 200 feet is about 60 m ? or maybe 16 m / circa 50 feet ?

Don't think I've been there since I was a child & in my memory its just 'very high'


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