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Spot the Awful Journalism Thread

740 views 26 replies 12 participants last post by  d_b_prince 
#1 ·
i'm not a pedantic person by nature, but almost every article i read these days seem to have many glaring errors in. post ones you find in this thread and let people try and identify them. it will be fun.


<B>Federer, Novak roll at Gerry Weber Open tennis</B>

June 10, 2004

HALLE, Germany (Ticker) - Second seed Rainer Schuettler and fellow German Nicolas Kiefer delighted the fans Thursday in the second round of the Gerry Weber Open.

Schuettler, who lost in the final of the Masters Series of Monte Carlo in April, defeated Swede Joachim Johansson, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Kiefer.

The 28-year-old Schuettler, who lost to the 21-year-old Johansson in the first round of the Australian Open in January, is seeking his fifth career title.





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"It was a very close match," Schuettler said. "It's good to know that I can still beat youngsters like him."

Kiefer, the runner-up in this tournament the past two years, overcame Swede Jonas Bjorkman, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Kiefer has six career titles, with the last coming in 2000. He lost in the final at Memphis in February and Scottsdale the following month.

"I wasn't playing at 100 percent," Kiefer said. "I can't recall how many break points I wasted today. But the fantastic fans helped me to turn it around. Playing in front of a sellout crowd is the dream of every player, so I really have to give them credit."

Sixth-seeded American Mardy Fish, playing his first tournament since the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in April, coasted to a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Armenian Sargis Sargsian.

Fish takes on Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who beat Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi, 6-3, 6-4.

First prize at this grasscourt event, which serves as a tuneup for Wimbledon, is worth $135,253 and 45 points in the ATP Champions Race.






Updated on Thursday, Jun 10, 2004 3:06 pm EDT
 
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#6 ·
:lol: :worship:
 
#11 ·
I have bolded the error in this article.


http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/news/articles/2004-06-06/200406061086549221627.html

Gaudio comes backs from dead to win title
By Matt Cronin
Sunday, June 6, 2004

In an extraordinary performance from a relatively unknown player, Argentina’s Gaston Gaudio came back from two sets and two match points down to put down a heroic effort from his countryman Guillermo Coria 0-6 3-6 6-4 6-1 8-6 and win his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros.


"This means everything to me," said Gaudio, who became the first Argentine since Guillermo Vilas in 1977 to win the title. "Since I was a kid I was dreaming to be here and win the tournament. Until now, I never believed I could win a Grand Slam."

In a bizarre match that saw Coria appear to almost retire due to severe cramps in the fourth set, the unseeded Gaudio overcame a jangled set of nerves and managed to outlast the battling Coria.


It was the first time since ‘Guga’ Kuerten won the title here in 1997 that an unseeded player raised the trophy, but it was arguably the first time in the Open era that a man in mid-career with suspect credentials suddenly found himself on the big stage of triumph. Prior to Roland Garros, Gaudio had never advanced beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam in six years on tour.


"I don’t know how many changes I made or the main thing that I changed, but the only thing I know is that I won," said Gaudio, who has been working with a sports psychologist for the past year. "I changed a lot of things with my mental game and was working a lot, but I didn’t know I could win a Grand Slam like this. Maybe from now on I’m going to believe in myself more."


It was also the first time since 1934 that a Roland Garros champion had rescued himself from a match point down, and the No44 ranked Gaudio was fortunate enough that Coria decided to go for two down-the-line winners on his match points and barely missed them.


Coria – who had only lost two matches on clay in the past year prior to Sunday – was a heavy favorite entering the match and looked all the part of a champion in the first two sets, flying about the court and rarely missing a ball. Gaudio was unable to penetrate the exquisite counterpuncher until the third set, when he began to find depth and accuracy on his heavy groundstrokes.


Gaudio broke Coria to 3-2 in the third set when the 22-year-old missed a forehand down-the-line but then was broken right back when he missed a forehand. During the changeover, the sold-out crowd went into a prolonged rendition of the wave. Gaudio clapped their efforts, broke into a broad smile and loosened up.


"It was real important to me because I was too nervous," Gaudio said. "After that I started to relax and tried to enjoy the moment. It worked."


Gaudio came on strong and Coria began to feel pressure and was unable to kiss the lines like he had in the first two sets. Coria committed another forehand error and was broken to 5-4 and then Gaudio held at love to win the set when Coria missed a forehand return.


After the two held in the opening games of the fourth set, the ground slid out beneath Coria, who called a medical time-out to have his leg massaged. But he was unable to walk more than a few steps at a time or bend his knees to serve and Gaudio ran way with the set. Coria said he was overcome with nerves, which caused his body to seize up.


"I became nervous because it was new to me," said Coria. "I had the experience of other tournaments, but I couldn’t control my nervousness. You can’t replay history."


But in the fifth set, Coria regained some of his movement. He was never able to crank up his serve or move well to his left and was consistently exposed when running for backhands, but with Gaudio unsure of how to play against a hobbled opponent, the match see-sawed back and forth.


"I've waited my whole life to win this tournament," Coria said. It was the dream of my life so I fought to the end."


Coria broke Gaudio to 1-2 with a backhand down-the-line and was pasting forehand winners all over the place, but whenever Gaudio managed to stretch him out, Coria was vulnerable. But Gaudio kept smiling, reveling in the charged up atmosphere.


"It was like a movie,” he said.


Coria was broken to 4-4 when he missed a forehand, which began a string of five straight breaks. Coria served for the match at 6-5 and held two match points, but missed a running backhand down-the-line and forehand down-the-lines by inches.


"Gaudio saved them," Coria said. "He was smart because he made me move. I was exhausted and made mistakes… I believe that if I felt good, the match would have changed."


Gaudio then broke him to 6-6 when he forced a backhand error, held easily to 7-6 and won the three-and-a-half-hour match when he nailed a forehand winner.

The ebullient Gaudio – who knocked off Lleyton Hewitt, David Nalbandian and Coria en route to the title - then ran around Court Philippe Chatrier and high-fived dozens of fans.


Coria was devastated after the contest, saying that had he won, he would have redeemed his reputation, which suffered damage when he was suspended for doping for seven months at the end of 2001 and beginning of 2002. Coria claims he was given contaminated supplements but the suspension stuck.


"After what happened to me because of the doping, I was dreaming of this situation. To see my body let me down, I wanted to come out of this story," said Coria, who broke down crying. "I came here thinking this was ‘the’ opportunity to demonstrate to everybody, especially those who judged me, to show them what I was able to do and keep them quiet. I really wanted to empty myself of all that, but I was not able to do so."


During the presentation ceremony when Vilas and John McEnroe presented him with the Musketeer Cup, Gaudio also broke down crying while thanking his parents. He gave credit to his father, Noberto, for sticking with him.


"Everything that I have done, I owe to him,” Gaudio said. "He made so much effort for me and all my brothers and sisters. I want to dedicate this to him."
This was the guy who did commentary on Roland Garros radio, you would think that such an important point as the championship winning point, that he would know that it was Gaudio winning with a backhand cross court and not a forehand.
 
#12 ·
GeorgeWHitler said:
I have bolded the error in this article.

This was the guy who did commentary on Roland Garros radio, you would think that such an important point as the championship winning point, that he would know that it was Gaudio winning with a backhand cross court and not a forehand.
Seems like a pretty minor error to me. We all make 'em.

As for that article, I've seen far worse. I thought it would be a mess of bad grammar due to the title, but no. Couple factual errors, apparently. Big deal, they do that all the time.
 
#13 ·
CarnivalCarnage said:
Seems like a pretty minor error to me. We all make 'em.

As for that article, I've seen far worse. I thought it would be a mess of bad grammar due to the title, but no. Couple factual errors, apparently. Big deal, they do that all the time.
Doesn't mean that it's good to make factual errors, I know if I submitted that article, I would have got told to write it again.

Then again some factual errors are worse than others, but that one could have easily been avoided.
 
#14 ·
rassklovn said:
Doesn't mean that it's good to make factual errors, I know if I submitted that article, I would have got told to write it again.

Then again some factual errors are worse than others, but that one could have easily been avoided.
I'm not saying it is good to make factual errors. But the author of that article made one, referring to a tournament which occurred six months ago. It'll happen.
 
#15 ·
CarnivalCarnage said:
I'm not saying it is good to make factual errors. But the author of that article made one, referring to a tournament which occurred six months ago. It'll happen.
The difference is this was recent and the author was one of the commentators on Roland Garros radio, then again Cronin doesn't have that much of a clue, so I am not surprised he made that error.

It would be like not remembering who scored the winning goal in extra time of the World Cup, after having just witnessed it, and this was not six months after the event.
 
#16 ·
rassklovn said:
The difference is this was recent and the author was one of the commentators on Roland Garros radio, then again Cronin doesn't have that much of a clue, so I am not surprised he made that error.

It would be like not remembering who scored the winning goal in extra time of the World Cup, after having just witnessed it, and this was not six months after the event.
I'm afraid you misunderstood. The portion you quoted referred to the article at the top of this thread, not the one posted by GWH.
 
#17 ·
CarnivalCarnage said:
I'm afraid you misunderstood. The portion you quoted referred to the article at the top of this thread, not the one posted by GWH.
Seems the wires have got crossed and that can happen and I was refering to GWH's article and the shoddy journalism and the mistake that was made in that particular article. Anyway I think we are cool with that.
 
#18 ·
Well good.

Though now that I think about it, I have to take exception with that example you gave. It's more like if the guy had mistakenly said the winning goal of the world cup was scored off a left-footed shot rather than a right-footed one.

But either way, it's an error. I just don't think it's so massive. But perhaps I'm just accustomed to the shoddy standard of tennis journalism. What can you expect, really? Most of the "professional" writers who cover tennis have their hearts in another sport. They don't care, it's just a paycheck. I do think it's a sad state of affairs, but neither article in this thread strikes me as the bottom of the barrel. Seen worse, as I said.
 
#19 ·
We'll disagree on the World Cup analogy, well I can have the wrong scorer and you can have the wrong foot, but it's still an error anyway.

It depends on where you get your tennis journalist sources from, then again I have helped people out writing articles and stories, by doing the research so you can see why I am bit pedantic when it comes to that. I don't care shoddy journalism is shoddy journalism either way and I have seen some the shoddy articles that get published and it's shocking.
 
#20 ·
here's another one. it's womens and it is a bit harder to spot it. the hint is it has to with sharapova.


BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) -- Third-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia reached the quarterfinals of the grass-court DFS Classic by beating Australian qualifier Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-3 Thursday.

Also, defending champion and fourth-seeded Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva was beaten 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 by Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

The 17-year-old Sharapova, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year, next faces another Australian, eighth-seeded Alicia Molik. She defeated Jelena Jankovic of Serbia-Montenegro 6-3, 6-2.




``I don't think I played unbelievable,'' said Sharapova, aiming for her second straight semifinal berth in the Birmingham event. ``I did what I had to do to win the match. I was a bit up and down.''

Maleeva, once ranked No. 4 in the world, played down her loss to Tanasugarn.

``This is not a setback,'' Maleeva insisted. ``I actually played better than in my first match, and my feeling for playing on grass started to come back.''

Tanasugarn's quarterfinals opponent will be ninth-seeded Frenchwoman Emilie Loit, who beat Akaiko Morigami of Japan 6-4, 7-6 (4).

In other third-round action, Anne Kremer of Luxembourg struggled against Italy's Roberta Vinci before winning 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (3). She next plays France's Tatiana Golovin, a 6-4, 6-0 winner over Shinobu Asagoe of Japan.

Another Japanese player, Saori Obata, secured her spot in the last eight by eliminating American qualifier Shenay Perry 7-6 (3), 6-1.



Updated on Thursday, Jun 10, 2004 10:35 pm EDT
 
#22 ·
rassklovn said:
We'll disagree on the World Cup analogy, well I can have the wrong scorer and you can have the wrong foot, but it's still an error anyway.

It depends on where you get your tennis journalist sources from, then again I have helped people out writing articles and stories, by doing the research so you can see why I am bit pedantic when it comes to that. I don't care shoddy journalism is shoddy journalism either way and I have seen some the shoddy articles that get published and it's shocking.
I agree, it is shocking.

My sources are the same that most commonly use. Everybody reads Wertheim now and again (you want an egregious error? What about the three times he referred to Elena Dementieva as the 2000 US Open finalist?), and of course all the AP and Reuters articles that supply most of the rest of the content out there.
 
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