Media-Aviation outreach: Good Idea or Not?

[Corona]

Ok, this media report on the Pinnacle trajedy has irritated some folks, including me. I took a single written journalism course in college, so I know reporters cannot know everything about what they report, though they are required to find out the facts.

"Aerodynamic Stall" is a classic phrase; there have been many others even worse since I've been paying attention. At least we know they weren't flying a '73 Pinto at 410, thanks to the media.

Has anyone like AOPA, GAMA or the NBAA ever tried an educational outreach to the press, to keep them from making fools of themselves and us? Usually when I see a light airplane on the news, it is upside-down in a field with its little wheels sticking up in the air. I would like to see a different picture of aviation. I know it sounds boring, but the 1976 Skyhawk in which I earned my Instrument is still going strong at nearly 12K hours. Sound like news?

So what do you think? Do we need an organized effort to educate the media, or is it a lost cause?

C

BTW, one local TV station actually does a very good job on aviation stuff, especially on the local regional airport. They are by far the exception!

 

[NoahWerka]

You cannot educate sexual intellectuals who double as idiots.

 

[Resume Writer]

Ok, this media report on the Pinnacle trajedy has irritated some folks, including me. I took a single written journalism course in college, so I know reporters cannot know everything about what they report, though they are required to find out the facts.

"Aerodynamic Stall" is a classic phrase; there have been many others even worse since I've been paying attention. At least we know they weren't flying a '73 Pinto at 410, thanks to the media.

Has anyone like AOPA, GAMA or the NBAA ever tried an educational outreach to the press, to keep them from making fools of themselves and us? Usually when I see a light airplane on the news, it is upside-down in a field with its little wheels sticking up in the air. I would like to see a different picture of aviation. I know it sounds boring, but the 1976 Skyhawk in which I earned my Instrument is still going strong at nearly 12K hours. Sound like news?

So what do you think? Do we need an organized effort to educate the media, or is it a lost cause?

C

BTW, one local TV station actually does a very good job on aviation stuff, especially on the local regional airport. They are by far the exception!

Unfortunately, there are many media people that are on such a strict deadline that they just put information out there, whether correct or not, to meet that deadline. The difference between them and a true journalist is called "integrity" and not many have it.

As a published journalist, I know that I always research my sources to ensure that I was printing the correct information; even if I think I know the information. Let me give you an example.

About a year ago I was doing a story on disability law. I thought I thoroughly understood disability law, as I have a son that has a disability and have attended every seminar I can think of to help him out. However, as part of the story, I interviewed someone from the Arizona Center for Disability Law.

What I found was that I had misinterpreted a law in the American's with Disability Education Act. It was a real eye-opener for me and I learned something! I was able to report accurately so that I did not mislead the people who would be reading my story.

I think the first thing you could do is make an effort to contact the local station that does the reports accurately. Let them know how much you appreciate them reporting the facts.

With the other folks, you could call them and maybe provide them with places they could do their research, thus making their job easier.

We had a reporter here in PHX that is constantly doing an "interesting" job of writing about employment. She quoted one of my colleagues (which later he said was a "misquote") by saying that references should be included on the resume. Her simple mistake caused many of the resume writers here in PHX to get calls from their clients demanding that they needed their references listed on their resumes. One story like that made problems with the credibility of my colleagues. Like it or not, many people believe what is written in print.

The worst thing about this whole story was that the person she quoted does not even write resumes or perform an HR function; he never has! Even though it was brought to her attention by several of my colleagues and me, and we gave her the reasons behind "why" what was written was inaccurate, she got very defensive. She said she was going to print a retraction, but never did.

As far as getting a story about the 1976 Skyhawk, there has to be a "hook". That could be that the aircraft has flown 12,000 hours. It could be about the maintenance that is involved to keep that plane flying. It could be a number of angles. Just remember, there has to be a "why is this news" angle.

Remember when you are giving a story about something, you will most likely be recorded and quoted. Be careful what you say; even if you think it is innocent.

I hope maybe that shed some light into why inaccurate reporting happens and what you can do to try to make a change. Good luck!

Kathy

 

[Corona]

Thanks, Resume Writer; very thoughtful post. It sounds like you have considerable experience dealing with the media. What I was wondering is if there is or should be sort of a clearing house of aviation facts, maybe linked w/ the AP. I know AOPA has been an excellent advocate for aviation, but this might be beyond their scope. The media may be inaccurate about other businesses, but aviation is my biz, so I see it more.

I wasn't terribly clear about the '76 Skyhawk. I just included that as an example of a "dangerous" single-engine airplane that has spent nearly 1.5 years aloft without any safety problems. 12K hours is not a record, though, there are Skyhawks, not to mention airliners, with double or triple that time.

C

 

[FN FAL]

Ok, this media report on the Pinnacle trajedy has irritated some folks, including me. I took a single written journalism course in college, so I know reporters cannot know everything about what they report, though they are required to find out the facts.

So what do you think? Do we need an organized effort to educate the media, or is it a lost cause?

It's a lost cause. They will never get it right and you will become hoarse.

The media's customer base has no need, nor desire to take a flying lesson when they read the paper. They want to see and read about blood and guts and dead people, politcians and cops getting indicted and the sports page. Flying lessons? No.

 

[mmmdonut]

I remember watching a so-called aviation expert on Foxnews describe how reverse thrust worked: "Thats where the fan blades on the jet engine stop and rotate at high speed in the opposite direction."

I spewed milk & cookies all over the TV.

 

[captainv]

it's basically a lost cause.

at my old newspaper, it was the cops reporter that got called out for plane crashes. usually they'd wind up in a field somewhere, typically close to deadline, with cops and "eyewitnesses" for sources. the cops would either say nothing beyond the obvious, or give a few quotes loaded with fact errors. eyewitnesses always gave good quotes, but they're rarely reliable. other pilots are almost always reluctant to talk.

as for the reporters, in our case the cops reporters, they know the legal system inside and out, but they don't know beans about aviation. luckily, plane crashes are pretty rare, so nobody has a specialty in that. for those few stories, they rely on their sources, who often don't know much more about aviation, either.

with all due respect to Kathy, it's not a lack of integrity. it's a city editor telling them to go cover the crash and file a report within two hours. it's easy to hold your work until you've verified everything if you're writing for magazines or something, but that's not the real world at a daily newspaper. crashes are obviously an unexpected event, so covering one could easily be the second or third story the reporter has covered that day.

i've actually covered a crash myself. I was working on a feature at sun 'n fun, when a guy spun into the GEICO building in an experimental. he'd taken off from the ultralight strip in an airplane he had little time in, and he'd never flown off a grass runway in the plane. there may have been a slight tailwind, but basically he didn't have enough runway but he mushed it into the air. if he hadn't tried to turn, he wouldn't have died (the jist of the NTSB report, of course we didn't have much to go on that day). i had to interview his best friend as he stood looking at the wreckage. it was an easy story to write, lots of well-informed eyewitnesses. but man, i can't tell you how horrible it is to interview someone who's just lost a loved one. and even with all our good sources, it took hours to get the story to come together. writing on deadline is extremely difficult. anyone who thinks different should go to a city commision meeting, sit there for hours, and pull a story out of the 50 things they drone on about. and then write drive home and whip up a good 12-column-inch story on it in 30 minutes.... it ain't easy.

 

[FN FAL]

it's basically a lost cause.

at my old newspaper, it was the cops reporter that got called out for plane crashes. usually they'd wind up in a field somewhere, typically close to deadline, with cops and "eyewitnesses" for sources. the cops would either say nothing beyond the obvious, or give a few quotes loaded with fact errors....

Yea, and cops aren't the best public officials at making statements either, even on stuff they should know better about...like freaking criminal law!

The wife and I were waiting to be seated at the Jet Room on Sunday and we were standing by a table which seated 3 of Dane County's finest. One was explaining to the other two, what the Clinton "assault weapon" Bill REALLY meant. The two getting the education, seemed to be about as dumb as rocks on the issue, especially considering the Bill was in effect for 10 years and is now history. If two out of three cops didn't know dick about the Bill, it kind of tells you something, donut? Yea, like there probably isn't a panacea of crime related to ugly rifles and hi-cap magazines!!!

I continued to enjoy listening in on the conversation, because we chose the table next to them when It came time to being seated...I'm just glad they finished up their meal before I had to go over there and flip their table over and yell, "How do you like me now?"

You'll never make experts out of the media...it's kind of like that old saying regarding the inevitable, "Don't run, you'll only die tired!"

 

[Ganja60Heavy]

I remember watching a so-called aviation expert on Foxnews describe how reverse thrust worked: "Thats where the fan blades on the jet engine stop and rotate at high speed in the opposite direction."

I spewed milk & cookies all over the TV.

LOL!

I also remember on CNN a "Medical Expert" discussing the "D and A" evidence in the O.J. trial.

Idiots.

 

[FN FAL]

LOL!

I also remember on CNN a "Medical Expert" discussing the "D and A" evidence in the O.J. trial.

Idiots.

Marvelous.