Thread: Another good opportunity to bait the anti brigade !

Originally Posted by Doug

Letters to The Editor

Dear Sir,

You should know who JG Ferguson is.

"If it is not factually correct, it will not be taken seriously by those who spot its errors. If it is not grammatically correct, it will not be understood. If it is not appropriate for its audience, it will be utterly useless." - JG Ferguson

An article about Mark Gunton in your paper refers.

When compared to the three criteria of factual correctness, grammatical correctness and appropriateness, the article fails on the first two. This leaves only the third and the article somewhat typecasts itself, together with your paper. You would need to fix this or accept the position.

Factual Correctness:

"The beast's tusks are blood-spattered" - What the writer assumes as blood, is staining from old age. Any person who has the remotest knowledge of old elephants, knows this.

"its face contorted into a gruesome death mask." - In death, initially, all muscles relax completely. The photo is what a dead elephant looks like from that angle. It does not matter whether it dies from disease, hunger, thirst, being eaten alive by lion, shot by a poacher, shot by a Parks officer or being shot by a hunter.

"and boasted of stalking and killing it" - I have read her report of this and see no boasting, just factual reporting for those who are interested. Those who wish to raise sensation, may twist the truth somewhat but that is for you to decide.

"A petition has been started" - And it went nowhere. Why are you reporting this in such a one sided manner? Is it to whip up emotion amongst the uninformed?

"King Juan Carlos of Spain was removed as honorary president of the World Wildlife Fund" - 'which he helped to found in Spain in 1968.' For the sake of brevity the writer would not mention this, of course. The way it is put in this report carries more sensation.

"campaigns for an end to trophy-hunting, said it was wrong for hunters like Gunton to glorify animals' suffering." - There are two mistakes here. Firstly, it is not wrong. It is not what the Fund wants but it is not wrong. (Unless sensation is the real reason for mentioning this.) Secondly, this elephant did not suffer. Suffer is when it dies of thirst or hunger or when poachers or other animals rip out what they can, even while the animal is still alive.

It is also clear that Rebekka Thompson has her facts completely distorted. She should verify circumstances instead of jumping on every publicity bandwagon that rolls past. Of course her bandwagons would be drawn by humans. The way your writer reports on her, it is better, in her point of view, that humans suffer rather than animals.

Grammatical Correctness:
"the corpse of a fallen African elephant." - The correct word is 'carcass', 'corpse' refers to a human.

"further post-slaughter poses" - Slaughter is incorrectly used, unless the writer intends to cause sensation. Slaughter - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Fire the writer and your proof reader if sensation was not the intention.

"the body of a Nile crocodile" - 'Body' refers to a dead human and not to an animal. See 'Carcass'.

"slain crocodile" - There is a pattern emerging here. In this context, slay is intended to sensationalise.

Kindly confirm whether this article was simply to add sensation and emotion or whether it was intended to be factual and serious. I have formed an opinion about The New Zealand Herald and it may be confirmed or changed.

Regards,

Gerard Schultz


GS CUSTOM USA - More Accurate, More Consistent, Most Reliable

Great letter to the editor that. No stooping to the level of the journalist, just relevant and sound arguments.