news items

[apoil 0]

While I find it great the way Dropzone.com strives to keep us informed, I have to say that I am continually irritated to see what appears to be incident reports repeated directly from mainstream news media.
Statements like "plummeted to his/her death from 14000 feet" and "when his/her parachute failed to open" are dead giveaways that these are not being written by the skydiving community.
Yet these items are not identified as such. They are always posted by sangiro and attributed directly to the author by name - with no indication what local or national paper has also printed the article. If they are, in fact, dropzone exclusives, then the editorial tone should be shifted to reflect the appropriate audience.
This site is obviously by and for skydivers I'd like to see incident reporting be pitched accordingly. If we don't know facts, we can report on the incident without them. If we do know them, let's present them without the sensationalism.

[Milo 0]

I understand the desire for more detailed explanations of incidents, but Sangiro is a webmaster- not an investigative reporter or an FAA investigator. I am sure it is challenging for him to track down and find reports of actual incidents and filter out the rumors and urban legends.
Maybe the source could be further clarified, i.e. "Flatland Weekly News", but I appreciate the information, whatever the source.
Milo

[apoil 0]

I'm not asking for more detailed incident reports.
I'm asking for not repeating the sensationalist terminology of the mainstream media.

[PhreeZone 15]

Its lots easier to pass on the stories as they are written in the newspaper and not be held responcible for slander or lible against a DZ then it is to write a summery of a news article. I'm sure if you want to help out and write the stories, Sanigro will post them. I'm planning on writing a summery of the College Competition this winter since I'll be there. But I would'nt want to write a story about Quincy since I was'nt there and could'nt investigate reports of activites that went on there. Anything dealing in our sport is sensationalist in one way or another.
Be safe, be smooth, be fast..... and most importantly.... be phree

• Quote

[sangiro 4]

Sorry - I simply don't have the time to re-edit stories passed down to me from my news syndicates. Feel free to re-write any sensational story (yes, many mainstream stories are) and I'll consider them for publication. Any help appreciated. Also, know that a lot of my news stories are straight from the press.... you may want to give them a skip if you know it's something that gets on your tits. Safe swoops
Sangiro

[apoil 0]

As a compromise then, can you at least indicate from where they are being reprinted?
As it is, there is typically only a credit to the author, but not to the newspaper or wire that originally published it.
A few times I've been caught by thinking that the author was just another member of dropzone.com.

[sangiro 4]

That sounds like a plan...
Safe swoops
Sangiro

[mountainman 0]

I happen to think that within the past four months or so, there has been a big change in the front page content. It seems there is a whole lot less death, and more articles that people are interested in reading.
Dont get me wrong, I like to read the incident report, but hearing them all from ignorant reporters who know nothing about skydiving gets very annoying and old and does not provide any "useful" information.
Thanks for the change HH. I really do look forward to what you have posted now.
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