The Press and Archaeology

[kevin wooldridge]

I like the idea of a 'Mythbusters' type page where the originals of some of these odd media stories could be posted and BAJRites could make comment. It might turn into a little BAJR-Wikipedia. It could also be used to challenge 'popular' archaeological misconceptions (such as 'East-West aligned burials must be Christian', 'Vikings wore horned helmets', 'All archaeologists have beards' etc etc).....

[Jeff S]

I agree with hosty in terms of the need to meet journalists half-way, and developing journalistic contacts and mutual trust is a very useful thing (if very challenging to do!).

I would also draw attention to the Bad Archaeology blog if any of you haven't seen it: http://badarchaeology.wordpress.com/author/keithfm/ - nicely researched and with useful comments (often from the original sources of information) - it addresses issues on a case by case basis.

[BAJR]

It gets worse -

Experts hit on the new idea after examining mysterious stone balls found near Stonehenge-like monuments in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
About the size of a cricket ball, they are precisely fashioned to be within a millimetre of the same size.
This suggests they were meant to be used together in some way rather than individually.
The Scottish stone circles are similar in form to Stonehenge, but contain some much larger stones.

and who is coming up with this?

Archaeologist Andrew Young described the experiment in which he sat on top of the slabs to provide extra weight.
He said: "The true test was when a colleague used his index finger to move me forward - a mere push and the slabs and I shot forward.
"This proved the balls could move large heavy objects and could be a viable explanation of how giant stones were moved."
The team went on to carry out a life-size test funded by an American TV documentary maker.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Lets look at one of these precision engineered balls... of which 425 are known.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]780[/ATTACH] OR [ATTACH=CONFIG]781[/ATTACH]

etc... see more here: http://www.ashmolean.org/ash/britarch/hi...balls.html

Not exactly spheres are they? They are amazing, but hardly ball bearings! :0

[Dinosaur]

Most of the biggest stones are in Yorkshire anyway, Rudston Monolith, Devil's Arrows....

[BAJR]

Pah, what a load of balls (would be required to move them )

[Doug]

As much as I hate bad press, which there is to much to count, we (archaeologists) need to understand how the news system works. By understanding the system you can understand why news articles seem to get it wrong so often.

A reporter each day has a meeting with their editor were they pitch anywhere from 3-5 potential news stories. The editor can pick up all 5 or none (means no money)of the stories at which point they then have to produce those articles THAT day, usually.

Problems: 1. reporters need to pick articles that will get published so they can get paid- this leads to articles that are over the top e.g. American Indians in Iceland. That is because those articles are the ones that make it into the papers.
2. Those 3-5 articles get picked up or not ether way they are dead after that day. Meaning each day they have to find 3-5 NEW stories and 3/4 of a reporters time is trying to find 3-5 new interesting stories that will get published.
3. 5 articles get picked means you have to write 5 articles usually in about 2 hrs so if each article is 350-500 words your looking at writing 2500 perfect and spellchecked in 2 hrs PLUS all the research for those articles including getting quotes. Most papers have a 2-3 pm story deadline and most meetings with editors are around 10-11 in the morning. not alot of time to write a story.

When you know that pretty much less then a day probably only a few hours was spent on every article you read in a newspaper it makes you want to:face-crying:.

How we can make it easier for the reporters and so the story is reported factual is to practically write the story your self. Seriously when you write a press release write it like a newspaper article. First line should sum up everything followed by the details. Keep it under one page (do or die report bin anything that is more then a page) put some of your own quotes in there from people (makes it easier for the reporter and you won't get miss-quoted) end it by giving your contact details for more information and additional quotes (have a couple of extra quotes handy if they do call). Oh and have a catchy title.

If you follow those rules you make it ten times easier for the reporter to use those 30 min. they have allotted to your story. They all need quotes and when going through 100 plus leads/press releases a day they need to be able to skim the first sentence or just the title and decide if its worth pursuing.

Basically in your press release you have just written the story for them and dont be surprised if they use it word for word. I have had several press release cut and pasted straight into articles without any corrections. While I was not paid for it at least all the facts were correct.

[Dinosaur]

My site was in the local paper on Friday and they got the company name wrong again!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! !

[BAJR]

Did you provide the above :face-huh:

[Dinosaur]

Actually a disservice by EH......conspiracy theories, anyone :face-huh:

[BAJR]

:face-huh: a triplet of chins smiles!