Freep v. DetNews websites

Submitted by Wolverdore on

Although the home pages won't stay as they are forever. It is interesting to look at the two right now.

www.freep.com has a bunch of normal news with Granholm as the main article/photo. Buried somewhere in the sports section is an article about other coaches supporting RR and the practicegate.

www.detnews.com has a main article/photo about how other coaches are coming to his defense and support RR.

If they are just reporting the news, why are they so different?

Seth

September 2nd, 2009 at 2:23 PM ^

I can't in good conscious give a plus 1 to anyone who uses "there" instead of "their."

This is a personal thing. It bothers me. It bothers me more than any other typo, because it is so common, and so prevalent, and makes you read it twice (I can get past an "it's" possessive). It's confusing, especially right after a preposition. One reads it like "promote traffic to there," and then there's another noun after, and you're like, "whuh?" until you realize the author screwed up something they must have learned in 1st grade.

It shouldn't mean anything to you unless you specifically don't want to bother me. You have a right to spell things however you want to. You won't be thrown off this board for it. I'm not going to neg you for it.

But for my part, it ruins anything you want to say. Ruins it. I could understand "thier" or "theri" -- typos happen. You were trying at least. But using "there" like that -- that's just horrible, to me.

It says things about you. "Their" is such a common possessive that if you've read anything written by a writer worth his weight in ink (FTR: this post doesn't count -- my weight = way too much ink), you have to be more than familiar with it. Using "there" as a possessive suggests that you have done at least as much reading in places where "there" as a possessive is common as you have in places that use "their" properly. These are not generally places that I would consider full of literary wisdom.

On the other hand, it could be a once-in-a-long-while mistake, which you now cannot fix because someone else posted. Even the best teachers sometimes scratch a chalk board. That's what this is: chalkboard scratching. Please stop, for my benefit.

As to ignoring the Free Press, I don't want to discourage a boycott, but I would be surprised if it had any effect -- they've been raking in this week from that "article" already.

Rescue_Dawn

September 2nd, 2009 at 2:53 PM ^

Misopogon....your words cut deep. Yes, I admit "their vs there" has haunted me since elementary school.

When it comes to grammar I am like the fat kid in gym class with asthma...you do not want me on your team.

Thanks for the attempt to educate...I will try and me more conscious of that.

formerlyanonymous

September 2nd, 2009 at 1:27 PM ^

I'd say it's a mix between niche reporting (tailoring to their readers), access (freep appears to have access to more of the city/state contacts), agenda (detnews has been more pro UM), and pride. Detnews is showing that they do research to debunk the things that the freep has said, while the freep doesn't want to say "hey, we screwed up."

Foote Fetish

September 2nd, 2009 at 2:19 PM ^

That Detroit News article features sourced quotes attributed to actual grown up people who are aware of what they are talking about. I was shocked! Shocked I tell you!

Dave

September 2nd, 2009 at 2:51 PM ^

Lead off from an article in yesterday’s Freep:

"Carson Butler said Monday he noticed a lot of changes after Rich Rodriguez replaced retired coach Lloyd Carr at Michigan. He said he never thought the Wolverines were breaking NCAA rules, but players always were expected to attend voluntary workouts."

From Angelique’s article at the News:

"Former Michigan tight end Carson Butler, now with the Lions, said Monday he didn't notice a significant change in the number of hours spent working out and preparing for football last season."

Wha?

ken725

September 2nd, 2009 at 5:10 PM ^

I know nothing about either newspaper since I moved from Ann Arbor when I was about 6.

Which way do the papers lean in terms of viewpoint?

The only articles I have read are linked articles found on this blog, and I can't really feel a bias when they have to do with sports.

I don't wish to argue about left or right, just curious which way they lean.