Biassed Reporting

[archy sturmer]

I have noted that in nearly all motor vehicle/ cyclist accidents reported on local radio that the newscasters refer to:

'cyclist collided with a car/ lorry'

....without any knowledge of the circumstances. It may well be the other way around in the majority of cases, ie that the motor vehicle collided with the cyclist, but the default reporting stance invariably seems to imply a fault on the part of the cyclist.

I have noticed this also in relation to accidents between motor vehilces and pedestrians.

I am perhaps being over-sensitive and reading too much into it

What local radio is that, Nick?
I find it quite surprising, as it's one of the things that gets drummed into reporters - avoid anything that could be taken to imply blame.
Phrases like " a car and a lorry were in collision" rather than “a car collided with a lorry." are favoured.
It even results in fairly laughable sentences such as “ a pedestrian and a car were in collision..." in order to avoid any implication that either one was at fault

[Cyril Haearn]

I suppose it is news because of its rarity value. It is commonplace for cars to maim people.
I hope they catch the idiot that did it and give them the sort of punishment that would please a Daily Mail reader. This is why I prefer it to be illegal to cycle on pavements, even though I do it myself....

Me too, sort of (doublethink)

[Cyril Haearn]

.. when the vehicle he was travelling in left the road..