Sunday, November 1, 2009

WTF Story of the Day

The Reddit headline for this story goes "We’ve secretly replaced this couple’s alarm clock with a Chevy Malibu. Let’s see if they notice the difference."

CNN has the full take. What's great is that CNN has to use the word "allegedly" in front of any crime. So you get reporting that goes:
With motor fluid spraying their faces and the weight of a car numbing their bodies, two Nevada college students struggled to stay calm after a drunk driver allegedly tore into their home, ripping them from their slumber.

Kristin Palmer and Trent Wood were asleep in their home last week when a motorist allegedly drove into their bedroom around 4 a.m., mistakenly believing it was his ex-girlfriend's home.

Allegedly? I think the photos of the car inside the house, the ER calls, the testimony from the College students, etc. all add up to a fairly convincing story.

I wonder what the protocol is for this type of tone. If a bombing goes off somewhere, should they say it's an "alleged" bombing? If there is a suicide bomber involved; did he "allegedly" cause the explosion? Or do you only need to use "allegedly" if there is a criminal case involved? In which case; it's a little odd that the factual circumstances behind an event must be discussed with an ambiguous tone as soon someone investigates the case.

I mean, if we can't be sure about whether or not someone drove a car into a home; what basis does CNN have for any of their stories?

2 comments:

TGGP said...

Did you hear about this?
http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-zealand-employment-law-is-defective.html

Thorfinn said...

That's pretty funny. In the US, too, it's hard for gov employees to be suspended without pay. The only case I've heard of it is when a police officer in Stockton, Utah, was suspended for giving the son of the mayor a ticket.