Quote Originally Posted by Jim2
Now don't get me wrong here - a lack of interest does not excuse a lack of professionalism. Once upon a time the "media" took themselves seriously enough to consider such issues as ethics and accuracy as being important in reporting the news. Reporting doesn't mean inventing, making up, or providing "details" that are wholly inaccurate.

I stand by what I said: it isn't professional to just chuck any old thing into an article like that, particularly when it involves a fatality.
I wasn't saying that not being interested in a subject was an excuse for getting things wrong, it's just that general news reporters are expected to be experts on every subject under the sun. By lack of interest I meant that if they don't have a general interest in something, it makes it hard - not impossible - for them to come up with intelligent questions to ask. Years ago if a reporter got something wrong, the chief reporter or the editor would come down hard on them, but nowadays many seem to be of the opinion that "it's fish and chip wrapping tomorrow, who cares?" All of us should care whether what is reported is correct or not and so should the reporter if they are any good.

When I read the bit about speedway I thought "what is the relevance?" but the reporter may have researched how many racing accidents there had been in the past 10 years for instance. Of course speedway is vastly different to track racing but the deaths would still be regarded as racing fatalities. I'm not excusing her for this, but for someone who knows nothing about the different types of motorcycle racing (motocross, speedway, road/track, etc.), she probably didn't even think to ask if any of these accidents were similar to this one. From memory, several of the speedway ones involved spectators rather than racers.

Write to the paper/s concerned and tell them the facts - it is the only way they will know they are wrong and be able to correct this. Assuming the editor cares, that is.