A Newspaper Reporting Gone Wrong...

Who and what are reporters?

He or she is a person employed to report and to gather news; for a newspaper, wire service, or television station. Generally when one thinks of the stories and events being published by the type of media, it would at least have been researched on and proof read first before it even reaches the printing machines.

A reporter should also do a little homework on the subject matter at hand. This would enable him to know the basics of the story he is covering too. Being precise and accurate on the information regarding his subject and the people he had interviewed for it also plays a very important part in his story.

Let me refer you to this article that was published on Monday the 24th of September by a recently launched (31st July '07) newspaper called "Sinar Harian".

What is 'Lien Dancing'??

If you take a peek into the dictionary, lien exists but none of its meaning relates to dancing.... Basically what should have read as the header is 'Line Dancing'; the ever gaining popular type of dance here in Malaysia. Line dancing is defined as dancing in which people line up and move in choreographed steps to the music.

Next we come to the names and the pictures shown in the article. Errors identified are :

1. the instructor's name should read 'Maggie Yap' and not 'Maggie Chan'.

1. 2. the resident's name should read 'Mimi Chan' and not 'Mimi Abdullah'.
3. 3. the age reflected between the two have been mixed up as Maggie is 30 and Mimi is 50.

4. the surname 'Abdullah' doesn't represent any of the people interviewed.

5. the picture with 'Maggie Chan' under it should be 'Diana Poon'.

6. the picture with 'Mimi Abdullah' under it should be 'Maggie Yap' instead.

7. 'Mimi Chan' who was standing next to 'Diana Poon' was unfortunately taken away from the article.

In this case folks, should we just ignore the mistakes and say that the newspaper and its reporters are still babies??

Should we make a fuss??

Write in to the editor to complain and demand an apology with the corrected information based on the interview done??

Are we making a mountain out of a mole hill if we were to do the above??

What would your opinion on this matter be??