Good, Bad, and Ugly
Reader reaction to Reuters news
What did they ban?
British government mulls stopping addicts’ benefits
The move reflects public concern over the effects of legal highs such as the drug methadone which was banned in April.
This article states that methadone was banned in April – it should read mephedrone.
Methadone is used to treat heroin addiction.
Harassed Mum
Indeed. Most of our versions of this story did properly say mephedrone, but the methadone error was unfortunately introduced in preparing the piece for online use. We corrected it: GBU Editor
A Chinese drug addict drinks a cup of methadone solution under the supervision of a policeman in Second People’s Hospital of Guiyang, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, in a 2005 file photo. CHINA OUT REUTERS/China
How hot was it?
Man dies in final of sauna championships
HELSINKI (Reuters) – A Russian man died in the finals of the world sauna championships in Finland after spending some six minutes sweltering in temperatures of 110 degrees Celsius (230.00F), organizers said Sunday.
Check your facts. I don’t think it is even humanly possible to spend 1 second in a sauna at 110 C. Perhaps it was 110 F?
W.P.
Our figure was accurate, and was the same one reported by everybody. You may have put your finger on one of the problems with this annual competition: GBU Editor
Russia’s Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy (L) and Finland’s Timo Kaukonen take part in the finals of the Sauna World Championships in Heinola August 7, 2010. Ladyzhenskiy died in the finals of the world sauna championships in Finland after spending some six minutes sweltering in temperatures of 110 degrees Celsius (230.00F), organizers said on Sunday. REUTERS/Sari Gustafsson/Lehtikuva
Asbestos banned?
EnPro unit files for bankruptcy over asbestos claims
Asbestos, once widely used in manufacturing, has been banned by the U.S. government after it was proven to cause cancer, often in people who were exposed by breathing in asbestos particles.
You incorrectly stated in this article that asbestos has been banned in the U.S.
Please print a correction on this immediately. Thank you for your attention to this very important matter.
Sarah L.
Thank you. We corrected: GBU Editor
A woman covers her face as she walks near the site of a steam pipe explosion in midtown Manhattan during the morning commute in New York July 19, 2007. Debris from an explosion of an aging steam pipe, that occured July 18, contained asbestos, New York authorities said on Thursday, but no airborne samples of the dangerous mineral fiber were detected. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Stating the obvious?
Uninsured Americans Hope Reform Brings Health Coverage
WITHOUT question the dumbest headline I’ve seen in my 65 years.
Now, if people where OPPOSED to getting free taxpayer provided health care, with no ellort on their part, THAT might be a headline. Stating the obvious is not a headline…….
A.B.
As headlines go, it isn’t exactly a startling click-magnet: GBU Editor
President Barack Obama holds a town hall meeting on health care in Grand Junction, Colorado August 15, 2009. REUTERS/Larry Downing
A dry cough…
Your shower may be blasting you with germs: study
Mycobacterium avium is linked to pulmonary disease, causing symptoms such as a persistent drug cough, breathlessness and fatigue, and most often infects people with compromised immune system but can occasionally infect healthy people.
Your article uses the phrase “persistent drug cough” but I think you mean it to read “persistent dry cough.”
David M.
Yes. We corrected: GBU Editor
Festival-goers shower at the Paleo music festival in Nyon, Switzerland, July 24, 2009. REUTERS/Valentin Flauraud
Where is the coverage?
Obama warns against scare tactics over healthcare
Protesters in Washington brandished American flags and home-made signs venting their anger at Obama and the Democrats who control both houses of the U.S. Congress, accusing them of pushing the country toward bankruptcy with reckless spending.
“Taxed Enough Already!” one man shouted, while others listened to speakers and traded leaflets. The crowd appeared to be one of the largest rallies against Obama since he took office, although it did not come close to matching the turnout on the National Mall for his inauguration in January.
I’ve not been able to find, on online Reuters, news on that huge protest demonstration in Washington, D.C. on the 12th. I searched news stories in the U.S. section and the Politics section, for the last 7 days. Where should I look? Thanks!
Ted W.
I guess there just weren’t enough of us protesting in Washington D.C. on the 12th of September. That must be it. After all, if Michelle Nichols can write a two-page article for Reuters on 300 liberals protesting the G20 in Pittsburgh then there must not have been more than five or six of us in D.C., else SURELY we would have been covered by the media. Guess we’ll need a slightly larger crowd next time, eh?
Russian alcohol deaths…
Alcohol kills over half of Russians in prime-study
MOSCOW, June 26 (Reuters) – Cheap and illicit alcohol kills more than half Russian men and women in their most productive years and the government must act urgently to reverse the trend, a study to be published in The Lancet at the weekend said.
“Excessive alcohol consumption in Russia, particularly by men, has in several recent years caused more than half of all the deaths at ages of 15-54 years,” the Lancet article said.
Both your lead paragraph and your headline have the same error.
Alcohol does not kill half of all Russians in their most productive years. Rather, half of all deaths of Russians in their most productive years are killed by alcohol.
That’s a very important difference. Half of all deaths is a number in the hundreds of thousands; which is very high to be sure. If your paragraph were accurate than tens of millions of Russians would be dying.
M.A.K.
“Alcohol Kills Over Half of Russians in Prime – Study”:-Docs pick up some 10 russians off the street and give them booze. Then 5 die. I wonder if they signed a Consent and Release Form.To paraphrase Motorhead’s “Killed By Death:-”Rather, half of all deaths of Russians in their most productive years are killed by alcohol.”
Vaccine, or no vaccine?
World closer to swine flu pandemic
Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year but the new strain worries experts because it spreads rapidly between humans and there is vaccine for it.
You have several copy errors in this article the most significant of which is where you mean to say …thereis NO vaccine for it.”
J.M.
We corrected that error soon after the story was issued on our wires, but unfortunately the correction did not make it to our reuters.com home page for several hours: GBU Editor
A couple wearing masks wait for their relatives to arrive from Mexico at Sao Paulo’s international airport, April 27, 2009. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a “public health emergency of international concern” over an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
Flu-like symptoms?
Swine flu epidemic fear grows, world on alert
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Governments around the world rushed on Sunday to check the spread of a new type of swine flu that has killed up to 81 people in Mexico and infected around a dozen in the United States.
Mexicans huddled in their homes while U.S. hospitals tracked patients with flu symptoms and other countries imposed health checks at airports as the World Health Organization warned the virus had the potential to become a pandemic.
In New Zealand, 10 pupils from an Auckland school party that had returned from Mexico were being treated for influenza symptoms…
Countries across Asia, which have had to grapple with deadly viruses like H5N1 bird flu and SARS in recent years, snapped into action. At airports and other border checkpoints in Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, officials screened travelers for any flu-like symptoms.
Argentina declared a health alert, requiring anyone arriving on flights from Mexico to advise if they had flu-like symptoms.
In France, two people returning from Mexico who had flu-like symptoms were being tested…
It’s worth keeping things in perspective. Pandemic could get serious, but let’s not lose our heads over every little bit of news that comes out about flu.For more see my blog:tomtommytom.blogspot.com
Scary headline
Mexico shuts schools in capital in flu scar
Hello, I noticed an error today on the Reuters site, that made me stare at the article in confusion.
Please note the lack of an E at the end of Scar(e). Such a simple word should not be misspelled in an article released from a company like Reuters. Are these articles proofread?
F.M.
Yes, but apparently not well enough. Readers always notice sloppy headline errors, and we’ve had too many of them lately: GBU Editor
A woman wears a mask as she walks inside of a metro station in Mexico City April 24, 2009. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez
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Resident Mediafile Expert
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