Respect the Dead
Going after The Sun newspaper for media muppetry is like shooting fish in a barrel, so Media Muppets tends to stick to just their most heinous crimes against journalism.
The Sun have committed a few during the history of the Media Muppets column. The most diabolical? Well, that would probably have to be the one where not only did they repeatedly get the name of the team Villa were playing wrong, but also the name of the Villa boss at the time in the corresponding photo.
Never mind ‘fake news’ it was just tragic.
The latest faux pas was also a case of mistaken identity when reporting on the complications to the pursuit of justice that have become apparent, when it comes to Dalian Atkinson’s death.
Villa supporters have already recently seen Paddy Power disrespect former player Ugo Ehiogu’s unfortunate passing, when they listed him in their odds to be the next Birmingham City boss in a vain attempt at laddish LOL’s.
While The Sun’s nefarious act isn’t as sinister as that, it certainly is a bizarre one.
Headline
BLOODY HELL
Thousands of murderers, rapists and attackers convictions in doubt as more than 10,000 forensic tests may have been tampered with say police
Spiel
The Sun shined a light on the concern over faulty forensic tests getting in the way of justice and how it may implicate the case of Dalian Atkinson, whose death was triggered by being tasered by the police.
There was nothing wrong with what the journalist wrote, the problem lay in the fact that according to The Sun, the former Villa striker has been reincarnated in the form of ex-Villa player Leandro Bacuna, if the picture in the article is anything to go by…
Evaluation
1.This is one of those moments a journalist dreads, namely when either the sub editor gives their article a crappy headline or, as in this case, the picture editor messes up big time with the picture.
As we saw in the example mentioned above, where The Sun mistook Roy Keane for Paul Lambert, they are prone to getting names wrong. You could maybe explain that one. Well, one was the manager and one was the assistant manager, so if the picture editor didn’t know their football, a mistake is possible…if we’re being generous.
But Bacuna and Atkinson?
2. Recently Opta who supply the info that updates the in-game text coverage/commentaries of games that the likes of the BBC, Sky and even the club run have mixed up Albert Adomah and Joshua Onomah a couple of times, leading to calls of casual racism – i.e. do all black people look the same?
If we again cut Opta some slack, you can understand the names Adomah and Onomah getting mixed up. Match commentators on TV have made the same mistake.
But how can you mistake a picture of Leandro Bacuna for being Dalian Atkinson?
How does this happen?
Can you put a picture of Dalian Atkinson in the article please?
We haven’t got one…
Ah, ok…just use any black player in a Villa kit.
Obviously this conversation didn’t happen, as it’s not hard to get a picture of Dalian Atkinson.
It’s a shocker of a mistake and just screams incompetence.
There’s no logic to it.
If they used a picture of Ron Atkinson, at least you could say they had the same surname.
This is one of the largest national newspapers…I wonder if they make any other mistakes in their news reporting? *cough cough*
UTV
Media Muppet Rating: 10/10
The Sun need a new picture editor – pronto!
UTV
#JusticeForDalian
If you’ve spotted an article that is just lazy journalism or worse, and perfect for Media Muppets then please drop us a line on the usual channels.
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