As someone who writes a column for a local paper, and having done a week working in the Editorial Dept. of said paper, I have to say I find this pretty insulting.
Local journalism is dying, mainly because of reader apathy. You have to remember that these journalists are not experts on transport, they may be on the local area or, perhaps even sport. Newsrooms have been slashed, with sub-editors and journalists being cut and the remainder trying to do the work of those who have lost their positions.
Sometimes, the hacks can't even get out to see the scene for themselves and have to rely on phone calls, press releases or accounts from members of the public. It would be absurd to suggest that journalism is 100% is, or should be, error free.
Now, what we have here is a simple mistake. A small bus - a minibus? - crashed, it was on the way from Wilmslow and Knutford. Correct. It just happened that it's final destination was Altrincham, now - if you're not local (and let's face it, these guys likely live and work in Manchester) then it's possible to make a simple mistake on a bus' destination.
I think we need to have a slight reality check here. The Sun, the best-selling daily newspaper in the UK, has been running barely justified stories, which border on invading privacy, on celebrities for decades. They've been hiring people to hack the phones of thousands of people.
Now, if you ask me, that's a considerably bigger crime - yet, you seem intent on vilifying a local newspaper (one of the last daily locals) for some petty fact-checking error (the bus route isn't even worthy of that) - so why not ignore something worth ignoring!
:roll:
