Andrew Heenan wrote:
"Graham Harrison" wrote:
Yes... don't get me started about the BBC travel news and railways. They
seem to be incapable of doing any more than parroting what one TOC tells
them. For instance (I can't remember the exact words) "SWT trains are
replaced by buses between Southampton and Basingstoke." Well, if SWT
trains are replaced, what's happening to XC on the same route?

I'd guess that probably 95% of 'news' is simply rewritten press releases.

That's what press releases are there for - or it is for the couple I've
written! It can be instructive to look at some of the crud on TOC and
other websites. I had a look at the Porterbrook website recently - they
illustrate themselves with pictures of slam-door trains.

Few journalists ever bother to ask questions, let alone challenge the
'facts'

Who would they ask these questions to? The TOC who has supplied the
wrong information, who would presumably read it back to them....

Plus many 'news' services employ no journalists at all.

If the TOC can't be bothered to get it right, they shouldn't really
expect someone rushed off their feet - and according to friends in
radio, sometimes not even paid - to do their work for them.
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK