Article written

  • on 14.06.2012
  • at 11:30 AM
  • by Shannon McDonald, Editor

Article tags

category: Departments

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: Commenters won’t let Fox cover up mistake 5

Jun14

Two emaciated horses were found tied to a fence Wednesday at Seventh and Diamond Streets in Northeast Philadelphia.

Sound wrong to you, too? That’s what Fox29 reported.

The RSS headline and a comment from a reader indicate Fox corrected its error and rewrote the article headline and story to say North Philadelphia. But it was too little too late.

 

Was it a slip of the keyboard that lead to those four extra fateful letters? Or was it the station reporters’ inability to read a map? Either way, the editing needs work.

Fox, remember the tips we’ve given many times for knowing where you are:

  • If you’re below the Frankford/Tookany creeks, you’re not in the Northeast.
  • If you’re on a number street, you’re not in the Northeast.
  • If you’re not in 19111, 19114, 19115, 19116, 19124, 19135, 19136, 19149, 19152 or 19154, you’re not in the Northeast.

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast Philly wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

 

  • Pete

    Actually zip code 19120 also should be included. It is mostly Olney, but includes Lawncrest as far up as Comly Street.

  • Shannon McDonald, Editor

    Great point, Pete.

    Our reason for not including 19120 in the Right NEast/Wrong NEast corrections is because it could add to the confusion for big media outlets. Whereas the others listed are entirely in the Northeast, 19120 is not, which makes it difficult to use as a defining boundary for TV stations that already struggle with the region.

  • http://www.GreatPaRE.com Philip Cunningham

    Is there a reason that the mistake only happens when it is bad news/problems that happen seems like there is never any good news happening when these mistakes occur.

  • Gary G.

    I am right beside you when you rail against the erroneous geo-locations that local stations spew out. But, how can correcting the mistake after it’s pointed out be “too little too late”?? At least they corrected the problem. Doesn’t seem like the other stations are too lazy to even admit their mistakes…right? I gotta give credit to someone who puts forward the effort to correct as opposed to cavalierly sitting back giving the middle finger (like many stations generally do) Listen, I’m not a big Fox fan, but you gotta give credit where credit is due.

  • Shannon McDonald, Editor

    Gary, we think it’s great that the stations at least bother to make the correction. But where is the transparency? Where is the note at the bottom of the story that says, ‘hey we screwed up before, but our readers helped us realize the mistake and we made the correction’? By doing so on the sly, doesn’t it make you wonder what else is being changed in the story after it’s been published?

    That said, you make a great point about the stations that at least pay attention to what their readers are saying. That goes a long way.

NEast Philly is powered by WordPress and FREEmium Theme.
developed by Dariusz Siedlecki and brought to you by FreebiesDock.com

More in Departments (21 of 130 articles)