I think it's vital that we hold journalists accountable for the factual
accuracy of their reporting. If they aren't fact checking something as simple
as a bird name, what elsegoes unchecked?
A couple years ago, Greenpeace (an organization that I have no respect for),
announced a new campaign to protect puffin breeding colonies. There was a big
feature article in their member magazine. The cover photo of the article
designed to get donations had adult puffins and what they called "baby"
puffins. The baby puffins were adult Least Auklets. How can you claim to be a
credible conservation organization (Greenpeace isn't) when you can't properly
identify that which you seek to protect? I found an email address for the
author and pointed out the mistake. Her initial response suggested that she
didn't see the mistake as that of a deal so long as potential donors got the
overarching message. I pointed out that the opposition was being spoon fed an
opportunity to question the credibility of Greenpeace, at which point I think
the light went on.
Dave Irons
Portland, Oregon
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 24, 2016, at 12:27 PM, Lars Norgren <larspernorgren@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I never would have tried to set the record straight. But after this anecdote
I probably shall in the future. The electronic age has brought onerous
challenges to traditional print media, Here is a small example of how it can
potentially improve journalism.
Lars
On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 10:41 AM, David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Perhaps others noticed this as well, but Les Zaitz' Oregonian story about
the clean-up at Malheur referred to the "crows" in the towering cottonwoods
at headquarters as the crews worked to clean up the mess. American Crows are
actually surprising hard to find in Harney County, and particularly rare on
most of the refuge. They are completely absent during the winter months.
I sent the Oregonian editors an email pointing out that the birds in the
trees were ravens (you can hear them calling during the video of Dan Ashe's
press conference yesterday) and not crows. This morning I went on to
Oregonlive.com and saw that the story has been edited with "crows" being
replaced by "ravens." I had to chuckle.
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
