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The article touches upon how news stories shift the way problems are thought about, often in a way where problems stemming from cars are played down. This one i
by matsemann 2y ago
The article touches upon how news stories shift the way problems are thought about, often in a way where problems stemming from cars are played down. This one is a go-to for me in showing how that works and what to do about it, it's Cam Cycle breaking down a news story about a collision: https://www.camcycle.org.uk/magazine/newsletter110/article8/ https://www.camcycle.org.uk/magazine/newsletter110/article8/
I can btw recommend following the World Bollard account the images are sourced from. I find the playful seriousness hilarious.
It's sad that we need bollards so many places. Both for safety in regards to accidents. A more humane design of a street would make it impossible to speed too much or put pedestrians in harms way - if you need two hundred bollards somewhere along a street, other measures should've been taken instead (like traffic calming). But also because without them, some drivers will drive wherever, park wherever. No pedestrian zone remain untouched by cars without bollards. In my city we had to petition to get them up to keep cars out from somewhere they weren't allowed to be.
- gosub100 2y agoI only have the energy to refute 2 points in the article breakdown: 1) (paraphasing) "why was it relevant to say he was wearing a helmet". To raise awareness that it's critical that cyclists wear helmets to increase their chances of survival. 2) "he was struck...use of passive voice , not the result of one or other party's action", maybe because that information isn't available yet? And part of journalistic integrity is to not report that which isn't proven. It baffles me why cyclists expect to have any lower incident of traffic accidents than any other vehicle using common roadways.
- krisoft 2y ago> maybe because that information isn't available yet? What do you mean? The article they analyse says that a van struck the cyclist. The information is available and is disclosed in the very same article. Yet they use a passive voice.
- gosub100 2y agothe article may not have the final police report, maybe the cyclist veered in front of the van?
- krisoft 2y agoAre we talking about the same article? The one titled “Cyclist injured in collision with van amid rush hour traffic in Cambridge”? The very same article where the sentence they complain about is “he was struck by a van”? What information they can be missing that they can write “he was struck by a van” but not “the van struck him”?
- sleepybrett 2y agoThe laws being what they are in the UK I imagine 100% of the journalism is written in a passive voice. To do otherwise would risk a lawsuit.
- krisoft 2y agoSo you think “ he was struck by a van” is safe from lawsuit while “The van struck the cyclist” would not be? Who would be suing in your opinion? the unidentified van? > I imagine 100% of the journalism is written in a passive voice Only if there were some way to prove or disprove your imagination. Maybe like reading any newspaper from the UK and seeing that not all of it is written in a passive voice.
- gosub100 2y agoThe investigation could reveal the cyclist hit the van, by say, running a stop sign (as cyclists love to do).