Private Number Plates and Media Ineptitude...

Years ago, The Daily Express was a proper newspaper. Today, the oft-derided Daily Sport has done a more thorough job of reporting a story.

I have done my share of journalism and I still knock up the occasional magazine article. I’ve had periods of regular employment at newspapers, so I sympathise with the pressure that journalists can find themselves under to produce a steady stream of stories for publication. You only have to look back at some of the desperate nonsense I have posted on this blog to realise what a challenge it is to find fresh material.

That said, shallow, easy-target, incompetent journalism from a national newspaper (or its website) still disappoints me – even from a pornographer-owned tabloid which is frequently the butt of jokes about its editorial content, and which has recently had to extend apologies and pay damages and costs following a high-profile libel case.

The Daily Express website today carries an item in which it quotes a “survey” that says that ‘More than three-quarters of British motorists think drivers with personalised number plates are “self-obsessed idiots”’. What it doesn’t mention is that this poll, which supposedly reflects the feelings of 75% of the millions of UK drivers, is based upon a meagre sample of 2000 people. The Express’s stable mate rag, The Daily Star, ran the story in their print edition, but also decided to omit the figure that showed the flimsiness of the survey. The smutty Sport, however, disclosed the whole truth; but then, that paper is not exactly known for covering much up…

Furthermore, the Sport's version was the only one that didn't contain a glaring inaccuracy about the top prices commanded by the very best plates. The Express and Star stories claim that private plates can cost “up to £200,000”. Express "Newspapers" evidently weren’t paying attention when Afzal Kahn dominated the media with his purchase of F 1 for £440,625 less than a year ago.

Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.

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