Rant The BBC Website

[Raven]

I am not usually fussed about spelling and grammar but I have noticed a hell of a lot of simple spelling and grammatical errors on the BBC. Take this for instance, BBC NEWS | Wales | North West Wales | DNA test to prove Bronze Age link

""After finding when the workers came here the researchers will then be able to discover what skills they bought with them," he added."

Bought with what?

Obviously they mean "brought" so why the fuck don't they say what they mean? The BBC used to make an effort, it seems these days they can't even be arsed to run the word spelling and grammar checker.

Do people need an education to work for the BBC these days?

As I say, usually it doesn't bother me on forums and whatnot as most posts are just spewed out and not checked but you would think that the BBC would check its output. It happens all the time, there are so many mistakes made in their stories its ridiculous.

Rant over!

 

[Cadelin]

Odd thing to rant about, its a pretty small error.

Bought is a word so it won't come up in a spell check. I copied the text into word and it doesn't come up in the grammar check either.

I should also point out that the spelling error occurs inside a quotation. This means that its not the authors job to correct/change it (Nobody corrected George Bush when he was spouting awful English).

I am sure there are lots of spelling and grammar mistakes on the bbc website but these happen. I don't see that many mistakes.

 

[Ch3tan]

It should be the editors job to stop those errors getting published though.

 

[Tom]

The real problem with that page is not the misspelling of bought, it is the very poor grammar used throughout the article. What also annoys me is the dependence on short paragraphs to improve readability.

 

[Scouse]

Beeb's the chav news network of choice. It's fucking awful tbfh.

Better than most of the compo tho

 

[old.user4556]

I've ranted about the BBC before over here just in general, but to echo Scouse it really is toilet these days.

 

[DaGaffer]

BBC isn't a print organisation. The journalistic standards of print-to-online are generally better than those of tv-to-online. It also shows up in stuff like the short paragraph structures etc. The dumbing down is a wider BBC issue though, although there are many who've argued we get the BBC we deserve, and they're just a mirror held up to our retarded society. (It doesn't help that they're subject to far harsher scrutiny than commercial media networks though, not least by those rival commercial networks themselves).

Interesting article though; my Welsh forebears are from that part of the country, maybe I should get myself tested for Dago genes.

 

[Zenith.UK]

If you want "serious" news, visit Reuters.co.uk
Since they're a newsreel provider, all the other news agencies use their stories.

 

[old.user4556]

Yep, Reuters and FT are my two other news sites. I also read The Times for some entertainment.

 

[Jaberwocky]

The quality of the BBC's news coverage has been going down hill since they introduced their own 24 hours news channel, the quality is rapidly heading toward laughable.

 

[Bullitt]

Just saw this on the Beeb:

The 41-year-old had been Freddie Mac's chief financial officer since September, having worked for the company for 16 years.

Police did not confirm reports that he had killed suicide.

Brilliant.

 

[Uara]

Oh no, someone killed suicide!!! How dare they!

 

[Overdriven]

Oh no, someone killed suicide!!! How dare they!

What will the emo do?!

 

[Zenith.UK]

Probably cut their wrists to release the emoglobin.

 

[old.user4556]

Probably cut their wrists to release the emoglobin.

Jeez *cue massive groaning facepalm* .

 

[Cadelin]

Jeez *cue massive groaning facepalm* .

I had read it as "emo goblin"

 

[Ch3tan]

So did I, which made the face palm moment even worse when I re-read it.