Thursday 29 May 2008

Sloppy Journalism

I know this is a pet hate of mine and I'm prone to be accused of pedantry; however, I see more examples of erroneous grammar and terminology from BBC Northern Ireland daily.

Today, on their web page, we have an article about empowering older people. The Lord Mayor of Belfast is described as "Belfast Lord Mayor" [sic].

In another article about the Troubles group, the Lord Eames is termed "Lord Robin Eames" [sic]. Just in case they didn't know, and I don't expect everyone to know, the title "Lord" followed by a Christian name indicates that the person is a younger son of a duke or marquess. Since Lord Eames is neither the son of a duke nor a marquess, his title is Lord Eames; or I suppose one could say, in writing, Lord (Robin) Eames; or Robin, Lord Eames.

I imagine that those employed to edit or write on BBC NI have first-class degrees in English. Ironic, isn't it?

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

"I imagine that those employed to edit or write on BBC NI have first-class degrees in English. Ironic, isn't it?"


Yes, quite.