Well I got into trouble with one of the kids yesterday for slagging off the Irish Independent. I picked up one from the large piles teetering unread that they give out free and laughed at the strapline 'Ireland's best selling newspaper'. "who'd buy this shit?". The kid replied that a quarter of a million copies were sold everyday. You, I, and the whole world know that newspaper's sales figures are, at best, wishful thinking. So I said, assuming they do, why? You can pick it up for free all over the place. Anyway, the kid said he and all his family bought copies. Don't you love the loyalty? Even if I don't need it I'm going to buy this low grade sheet that publishes dubiously reported propaganda at the whim of its owner. Maybe his da works for it, but he's maybe 19 or something - he should be hating his da if he has any grit in his soul at all.
So today's headline "Death crash bus driver is cleared: verdict puts pressure on Dublin Bus to find cause of accident". And lots of stuff about compensation - this from a paper that regularly accuses this country of being obsessed with compensation. Let's get it straight. The prosecution made a mess of the case and gave the defence incorrect figures to work on. The defence concocted a case based on the tachograph from a South African bus - it was a weak case as it happens but this is irrelevant as it was based on an entirely different bus. During the trial this mistake was discovered - the prosecution had the figures from the correct bus and no 'power surge' was on it. So the Independent - front page 'Power surge key to verdict' is absolutely wrong. The chain of evidence and the presentation of evidence by the prosecution is the key to the verdict. Absolutely no evidence of a power surge was adduced in court. None. That said the defendent had to be found innocent: would you like to be convicted in a case where the prosecution was so sloppy with the evidence? But, crucially there is no need for Dublin Bus to find the cause of the accident. There is no suggestion that there was anything other than driver error.
This is a distasteful comparison but there you go. OJ Simpson had to be found innocent due to the prosecution's actions, the police do not have to go looking for the real killer of his wife. The defendent had to be found innocent, I think, but that does not mean the search for the cause of the accident goes on. The Irish Independent - up to the usual lofty journalistic standards of the Independent group - has covered the story with profound ignorance of the law.
1 comment:
As a newspaper editor I think it's good if people feel strongly about a paper, even if it's negative. It shows they're reading it and they're interested.
I don't know the Irish Independent but I had a look at their web site after reading your comment. Unfortunately the articles are closed to subscribers only.
The headlines suggested it was a provincial paper, rather than a national one, as in it focused on domestic news.
I can't give a more detailed opinion on sketchy evidence, unfortunately.
Great to meet you through Explode!
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