Here’s a very brief guide to how local journalists do their job.
They claim that they’re overworked and underpaid and that they “hold many of Bristol’s decision-makers accountable on a daily basis“. Ho, ho, ho.
Here’s a press release from the PA published on Tuesday:
Jamelia getting engaged to Byfield
Pop star Jamelia has announced her engagement to footballer Darren Byfield.
“I’m completely over the moon. Darren proposing was a real surprise but I’m totally delighted. I can’t stop smiling!” the 26-year-old said.
The Superstar singer threw a surprise birthday party for Bristol City player Byfield in Birmingham after performing at London’s Olympia.
But the real surprise was to come as Byfield got down on one knee and popped the question in front of family and friends.
The couple have been dating for three years and have a daughter, Tiani, who turns two later this month.
They briefly split over the summer but were soon back together.
Jamelia also has a six-year-old daughter, Teja, from a previous relationship.
The singer is about to start work on her fourth solo album and this December will perform at Nelson Mandela’s World Aids Day concert in South Africa.
She recently became the face of the Model.Me haircare range alongside models Helena Christensen and Erin O’Connor.
And here’s a story on the BBC Bristol website the following day:
Jamelia to wed footballer Byfield
Pop star Jamelia has announced she is to marry footballer Darren Byfield after the couple briefly broke up in the summer. “I’m completely over the moon. Darren proposing was a real surprise but I’m totally delighted. I can’t stop smiling,” said the 26-year-old.
The Bristol City player, 31, proposed at a surprise birthday party the singer had thrown for him on Sunday.
The couple have been together for three years and have a two-year-old daughter.
She also has a six-year-old daughter, Teja, from a previous relationship.
Jamelia, whose hits include Superstar, is about to start work on her fourth solo album.
She has also been lined up to perform at Nelson Mandela’s World Aids Day concert in South Africa.
Now, to the untrained eye it looks awfully like the BBC have copied out the PA release, put the lines in a different order and published it as their own without crediting the source. That’s not journalism is it? It’s typewriting! And theft!
Surely a publicly funded organisation that says it’s “the most trusted news organisation in the world” and claims to recruit the brightest and the best wouldn’t dare do anything so shamelessly, lazy and dishonest.
Would it?
As long as the lad’s concentrating at the next game, that’s the main thing.
Lee Trundle’s got a WAG as well. She’s in Atomic Kitten. How many WAGS are going out with Rovers players? I bet even Alan Carr wouldn’t touch them.
Your logic is almost faultless (which is rare in a comment involving Bristol football).
But surely this is a HAB (Husbands and Boyfriends) story? Jamelia and Liz from Atomic Kitten are much bigger stars than Trundle and Byfield who are only mentioned as eye-candy.
Think you’ll find that story was written in London, not in Bristol. Not that I disagree with the sentiment about the laziness …
Well that makes it even worse. I always assumed that BBC Bristol was a bit like GOSW. They sent you packing out to the West Country because you weren’t up to it in London doing a proper job but as you’re unsackable they have to do something with you where you can’t cause much harm.
Now we learn this was produced by the Oxbridge cream of the BBC in London who are “going places”. Even more pathetic.
hmmm…. What gems of journalistic insight were they supposed to bring to this?
It’s a fluffy non-news press release that I guess would hopefully merit an accompanying photo of the charming Jamelia…
Seriously, this isn’t Saudi Arms deals – what does one do with such a press release other than dress it up a bit and publish?
There’s journalism and there’s Jamelia – but I’m not sure the two often meet….
I think it’s time to paraphrase the late Frank Zappa.
“Local journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read.”
After enduring the local media for 3 decades, there’s more than a hint of truth in Frank’s words.
blogger, how do you think journalists get their copy? some of it is from investigative digging, others from press releases or trawling through council minutes, talking to people, tip offs and and heavens to betsy, news agencies which they pay an annual subscription to! imagine that!! criticising the beeb for recycling PA copy is akin to criticising you for picking up on council press releases/meeting minutes and adding your spleen. this is not purporting to be a hard news story – but an entertainment piece, which there is room for in news. lighten up.
You fuckwit. The Press Association doesn’t “issue press releases”. It is a national news agency which is paid by organisations like to BBC to provide them with editorial copy. Sometimes that copy is rewritten, sometimes it isn’t. Anyone who know how news worked would know that.