Here is a pull quote from a Houston Chronicle piece titled [I]“Duties & Responsibilities of Journalists”[/I] that pretty much sums up the issues I had with the story and why I even bothered to post anything about it.
[I]“Journalists must strive to present an accurate, well-balanced explanation of the stories they cover. For example, they have an obligation to present all sides of an issue, and to conduct extensive research and talk to several sources knowledgeable about the subject. If they present only popular opinion, or if they conduct minimal research without fully exploring the subject, they don’t give readers and viewers the information they need to understand the implications of the event or issue.” [/I][/QUOTE]
How ironic that the quote is from the HoChron. . . .they might want to follow that. . .
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And further to the idea that we can make serious and accurate judgement based on a few seconds of video. . . probably one of the greatest shortcomings of our new “camera everywhere” society. There has been too much reliance on a few seconds of video and trying cases in the court of public, or dare I say, FaceBook opinion. With the spate of shootings in the past year or so and a few seconds of video, lives are being destroyed. I recall the outcry for the release of some video of a shooting. I felt that it should NOT be released. These things are better dealt with in a court of law, flawed it may be, but certainly better than the anarchy of emotional reaction to a few seconds of video. . . now that I have taken this thread further away from its intended course. . .
Speaking of click bait; Mikey stuck his foot in his mouth on a gCaptain Facebook post. Not only does he know very little about maritime matters, he interjected his politics into a post. From the comments and my view he’s on the wrong side of this one.
I posted the article originally and I think the boater was completely clueless, as originally stated in my title “Clueless Boater Crashes Into Washington State Ferry”. Agree/disagree that’s on you. My opinion is the boater was clueless and I know this because I can tell from watching the video. I could have said “Unprofessional Ferry Crew Crashes…” but if happened to have got that headline wrong I would have really felt like shit.
As far as me knowing very little about maritime matters… I personally publish the vast majority of any non-user generated content posted by this website with complete discretion over editorial. You may notice nothing has been posted yet today, that’s because I have not yet posted it. Over the years I’ve written thousands of stories for this site, curated and edited thousands of more. This is the content that drives millions of views to the site each month. I’ve been an admin and moderator on this forum since 2008. Most of what you see posted to our fb page is posted by me personally. I’ll be the first to admit I get things wrong on occasion. If you don’t like what you’re getting go check out Humans at Sea or the countless other sites ripping off copyrighted material and copy and pasting press releases.
Bottom line is I think we do a good job with what we have, I know I can’t be wrong in my opinion, and I sure as shit don’t care what some middle-aged sheriff-wannabe-looking dude who is taking online law courses at some no name college says about me in the comment section. In the past month or two I have noticed a more combative tone emerging and I have to say I don’t like it and I WILL NOT pander that sort of mentality just to appease few people on the internet or to get clicks. End rant…
Mikey, you do do a good job and the boater was, obviously, clueless. The problem is the ferry crashed into the boat not the other way around. I think that’s the bone of contention people have. Can’t believe people are still nitpicking at this though, what’s left to argue about.
