Daily Telegraph quoting from this forum today

[irish_rail]

Yes - compared to, say, The Times (which I subscribe to), The Telegraph appears to have moved sharply towards low brow tabloid style journalism. Making an anonymous internet forum the basis of a news article discussing a specialist/niche job role is seriously desperate stuff. Presumably they think it’s the kind of thing their reader base wants.



That’s how it seems to me. Sadly they are quite a few like that in the industry, albeit a minority, as you say. Of course another possibility is that the poster being quoted was a figment of the journalist’s imagination.

They are just getting desperate as their reader base disintegrates. Traditionally, Telegraph readers where well educated , and unsurprisingly lately the well educated and well informed will not stand for this kind of content. With the Tory party about as popular as bubonic plague right now, there really aren't many readers left. I know people who where Telegraph readers but switched after the frankly daft pro brexit stance. It feels the Telegraph is now trying to appeal to Sun and Mail readers, and I suspect won't be too successful. I can see it being a casualty in the coming years and ceasing to exist.

 

[GWVillager]

Stress of being a Train Driver

Hi all, I am actively pursuing a career in the railways and wanted to ask about the 'Stress' associated with being a Train Driver. I get whilst on duty, concentration is of paramount importance having to pay attention to numerous things and ensuring adequate rest due to the shift work, but I...

www.railforums.co.uk

I believe this is the thread being quoted, the messages are real. If this was their first encounter with the job, I can see why the journalist was would take the general line they did, though of course that’s virtually impossible and their claims are absurd anyway.

 

[Starmill]

Stress of being a Train Driver

Hi all, I am actively pursuing a career in the railways and wanted to ask about the 'Stress' associated with being a Train Driver. I get whilst on duty, concentration is of paramount importance having to pay attention to numerous things and ensuring adequate rest due to the shift work, but I...

www.railforums.co.uk

I believe this is the thread being quoted, the messages are real. If this was their first encounter with the job, I can see why the journalist was would take the general line they did, though of course that’s virtually impossible and their claims are absurd anyway.

They are real messages, but we don't know who they're from. They could for example have been someone from the Telegraph playing a long game. That's unlikely but it's not impossible...

 

[GWVillager]

They are real messages, but we don't know who they're from. They could for example have been someone from the Telegraph playing a long game. That's unlikely but it's not impossible...

A very long game as most of them have hundreds (or even thousands) of messages. It was an odd conversation, certainly, but I don’t think it’s foul play.

 

[Starmill]

A very long game as most of them have hundreds (or even thousands) of messages. It was an odd conversation, certainly, but I don’t think it’s foul play.

I know what you're getting at, but I was trying to suggest more that there are "unknown unknowns" in all anonymous reports. For example, it could be a genuine account which someone borrowed for a laugh, or for something else.

 

[43066]

Stress of being a Train Driver

Hi all, I am actively pursuing a career in the railways and wanted to ask about the 'Stress' associated with being a Train Driver. I get whilst on duty, concentration is of paramount importance having to pay attention to numerous things and ensuring adequate rest due to the shift work, but I...

www.railforums.co.uk

I believe this is the thread being quoted, the messages are real. If this was their first encounter with the job, I can see why the journalist was would take the general line they did, though of course that’s virtually impossible and their claims are absurd anyway.

Thing is, they’ve very clearly gone fishing for posts on an anonymous online discussion forum to suit their pre ordained editorial angle. There’s no way of knowing whether any of those quoted are actually train drivers, and they could just as easily be fantasists with an agenda. That’s not what I would consider “journalism” worth paying to pass a paywall for!

They are real messages, but we don't know who they're from. They could for example have been someone from the Telegraph playing a long game. That's unlikely but it's not impossible...

Certainly not impossible, and it wouldn’t the first time journalists have done similar.

 

[ainsworth74]

I suspect all they did was Google something like "train driver stress" and the linked thread was a top result.

Certainly when I Google that, that's my top result...

 

[GWVillager]

Thing is, they’ve very clearly gone fishing for posts on an anonymous online discussion forum to suit their pre ordained editorial angle. There’s no way of knowing whether any of those quoted are actually train drivers, and they could just as easily be fantasists with an agenda. That’s not what I would consider “journalism” worth paying to pass a paywall for!

Certainly, it’s a nonsensical article and very sloppy journalism. Even I could do better and not charge anyone for it!

 

[Starmill]

I suspect all they did was Google something like "train driver stress" and the linked thread was a top result.

Certainly when I Google that, that's my top result...

I guess you're right really. That's commonly how REACH Media and other articles of similar quality are written.

 

[geoffk]

The Telegraph is up for sale and likely bidders include Murdoch and Rothermere. Watch this space....

 

[Bluejays]

I'm not sure if the telegraphs domestic stuff has necessarily gone downhill recently, I think there has long been a very 'tabloidy' approach to UK politics/current affairs in the front few pages, combined with some more thoughtful stuff towards the middle. It was back 08/09 that I used to work in a very quiet local shop around being college. Used to go through most of the papers in a shift. The telegraph was always quite biased and often reactionary on domestic politics, but was always top drawer on foreign news. The Sunday telegraph always seemed a bit more rounded on the domestic stuff than the weekday publication.

 

[Cowley]

I think that’ll do for this. If anyone wants to start a thread on the Daily Telegraph being for sale then please feel free to start one in the general discussion section.

Thanks.