View Full Version : Caithness Courier - Embarassing Journalism.
Hot on the heels of the 'Man Deleted' coloum where the anonymous troll absolutely shafted a council stalwart and used his/her print space as an avenue to implement despicable victimisation upon, after the same "paper" gleaned an interview the week before about the new council offices, now we have the local rag reporter reaching new gutter press levels by taking the news to the nation that 3 kids went out on the Wick gala dressed a Golliwogs!!
Will, get a grip, and a life and a wife, and rather than follow Thurso High School pupils Twitter feeds, do some real reporting. It's absouluty appalling that all the work the Wick gala committee do, all that you can report on is this. The Wick gala is part of the Caithness fabric, and is becoming increasingly difficult to run due to social media keyboard critics and people reluctant to volunteer and what does our local paper do to help......run a nothing story on the front page so that the rest of the UK can pick up on the negative view that some school kid in her bedroom in Thurso started on Twitter.
Well done Will and the editor, well done.
So there we have it folks, our local paper does everything it can to encourage the Wick gala to become a thing of the past due to an already decreasing volunteer committee becoming even more scarce due to the national media attention the Courier has promoted.
Shame on the reporter and editor.
Whatever company owns the Courier will see the story as a big success.
They're not in business to help the Wick Gala, or anyone else.
Neil Howie
29-Jul-15, 22:07
Like you, I was shocked by the article in the Courier today.
Not because of the girls' naivety in dressing as golliwogs, but because the Courier chose to use it as their front page article.
I thought it was exploiting the situation to sell papers rather than dealing with it in a considered way.
Our local paper hasn't published many 'good news' stories in recent year. Absolute drivel and biased stories is their trademarks these days. What a fantastic job the gala have done and they are local heroes. What other community has such a diverse programme of events as our community has. Well done to Donna and her team, not that the local rag will say so, preferring to run our community down. The only way the papers bosses is Inverness are going to listen is when we stop buying such rubbish!
Personally I think it's embarrassing that folk find it acceptable to think dressing up as a black person is a suitable "fancy dress" for the gala.It really highlights the mentality up here.
I should add that it is not the gala committee that is at fault here, but perhaps walkers need to be vetted in future to prevent a reoccurrence of the racism.
BetterTogether
30-Jul-15, 08:52
For those in doubt to don't blame the local media try looking at your own attitudes. Here's an article from 2012
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/21/golliwogs-vile-throwback-tory-mps.
cptdodger
30-Jul-15, 09:18
For those in doubt to don't blame the local media try looking at your own attitudes. Here's an article from 2012
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/21/golliwogs-vile-throwback-tory-mps.
One paragraph from the article -
"In 2009, Hamleys declared that it was joining the Queen's estate (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/05/race-monarchy) in banning the items from its shops. Police action has been taken against those displaying such items, on the grounds of incitement to racial hatred.
For those parents who thought it was acceptable here to let their children dress up like that, do not ever move and let them do that there, you are putting your children at risk. Remember, a lot of tourists are in the area at the moment, and somebody took the time to make a complaint to the Police.
Whatever company owns the Courier will see the story as a big success.They're not in business to help the Wick Gala, or anyone else.
Unfortunately that is so true Sid, we have a community spirit that can't be explained to other parts of the country, and people from the metropolises won't understand the unique event that is the Wick gala, so that's the reason the Couriers sensational front page article has been grabbed by the nationals and been used as a quarter page filler to tick the 'here's something to be offended by' category.
No ones suggesting it was the best idea in the world to go out dressed as Golliwogs but The Courier didn't need to make it front page news and create the drama it has. I hope our 'local' paper hasn't created the downfall of our local gala and that the volunteers don't let people who contribute absolutely nothing to the Wick gala get them down.
Be nice perhaps if the Courier made a donation to the gala committee from all of the advertising space they sold in the gala feature the other week? I bet the complainer wasn't even at the gala, she'd be sitting in her bedroom scouring the internet looking for something to be offended by so that she could rage online how upset she is......get out your house lass and support the local gala love!
The paper will no doubt have some smart ass editorial in next week explaining that racism doesn't belong in the 21st century blah blah.....the point is we all know that but a little savvy from a marginal local paper could have so easily prevented this whole drama which will compromise every gala to come.
i think its all madness front paper news rather than put about a young lad missing and what about the ones that dress as jajapense girls where they being racist . when will it stop do you stop a football team appearing in the gala as they might offend someone else team.
BetterTogether
30-Jul-15, 20:30
Sometimes journalisms job is to shine a light into those dark recesses of society where unacceptable practise exist and expose them to the full glare of the rest of society. This is one such instance inappropriate,offensive culturally insensitive, racially motivated no excuses about they where kids they are well beyond kids teenagers/ young adults. The media have done a fine job exposing this maybe society can learn a lesson and next years carnival won't be blighted by sloppy racial stereotypes posing as just harmless fun.
cptdodger
30-Jul-15, 20:47
i think its all madness front paper news rather than put about a young lad missing and what about the ones that dress as jajapense girls where they being racist . when will it stop do you stop a football team appearing in the gala as they might offend someone else team.
Not a fair comparison, we did'nt enslave and then persecute millions of Japanese people. And yes (maybe not here) in some pubs in city centre's football tops are not allowed, but that is usually due to violence.
sintra307
30-Jul-15, 21:03
Support the Gala or lose it the organisers of all the highland towns do a great job and should be encouraged and highly praised . Now what is it they call people that keep gossip going?...oh and stop quoting wiki. If one cannot string a sentence together one should not copy others. This forum too is a wonderful source of the people of Caithness and worldwide is it there to make three youngster fearful of course it is not.
How dare the courier pick up on racism in the towns gala parade
crashbandicoot1979
31-Jul-15, 11:42
There was no racism, just three kids in an unwise choice of outfits. No one was mocking people of another race, no one was excluding people of another race, no one was picking on people of another race, no one was shouting abuse of people of another race - THAT'S racism. According to the paper there was a girl from Nigeria present who was made perfectly welcome and wasn't offended by the outfits.
rob murray
31-Jul-15, 13:00
There was no racism, just three kids in an unwise choice of outfits. No one was mocking people of another race, no one was excluding people of another race, no one was picking on people of another race, no one was shouting abuse of people of another race - THAT'S racism. According to the paper there was a girl from Nigeria present who was made perfectly welcome and wasn't offended by the outfits.
Agreed and very well put...an unwise choice of outfit...Courier....garbage paper....what about running an article on Paulie boys antics....cyber troll advocate, employing his brother in a cush number WE pay for...no local clinics etc..now thats a story...... on a human level these kids must be feeling really bad just now......leave them alone !!!!
George Saint
31-Jul-15, 13:40
There was no racism, just three kids in an unwise choice of outfits. No one was mocking people of another race, no one was excluding people of another race, no one was picking on people of another race, no one was shouting abuse of people of another race - THAT'S racism. According to the paper there was a girl from Nigeria present who was made perfectly welcome and wasn't offended by the outfits.
There was no racism..... .... try dressing up like that and go stand outside any major UK city rail station and see how long you last before finding out actually it IS deemed VERY racist.
..... just three kids in an unwise choice of outfits.... ..... anybody from Wick knows exactly who these 3 were and the apologists "kids" smokescreen is getting very thin already.
.... no one was shouting abuse of people of another race - THAT'S racism..... ......... seriously ? I despair, I really do. Do you honestly think if you did go stand dressed like that outside a major UK city rail station as I suggested that you would need to be "shouting abuse of people of another race" for it to be deemed racist ? You would be arrested on the spot just for the wearing the costume, of that I am 100% sure. That is if the police managed to get there before you were hospitalised.
Then again you could just hire a JCB.
I'm not sure that it would actually do a better job of digging though.
crashbandicoot1979
31-Jul-15, 14:21
I agree that people find it racist, but I personally don't and not everyone does. I don't see Golly's as black people. End of. Regardless of whether that's what they're *meant* to be, its not what I see them as. Again, if I saw someone dressed as a Golly behaving in a certain way, or in a context that made it clear they were trying to mock black people, yes I would agree that's racist, because the context behind it is racist.
Yes, dressing like that outside a major UK city rail station would be a different story (I've lived in one such city, I know that things are different).
Finally, I'm not from Wick and I don't know these kids - I assumed they were kids because that's what reports are said. If I'm wrong there, I stand corrected.
No digging going on - this is my opinion on the matter, that's all. I can't be offended by something that doesn't offend me simply because I'm told it should offend me. Likewise if I tell you that you shouldn't be offended, it won't change how you feel. That's life.
Neil Howie
31-Jul-15, 21:23
If the Sun has it on their front page as an example of racist behavior then it probably is!
The online edition now has an article about them handing themselves in too,
Link (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6568736/Golly-teens-hand-themselves-in-to-cops.html)
Fair play to the three for doing the right thing in the end.
sintra307
31-Jul-15, 22:09
Nothing was going to happen anyway it was a joke. Not when our glorious leader David Cameron was pictured with Black faced Morris Dancers (traditional). In Tartan as well. Leave the golly alone. and get a life of course. what's it going to be next week mr journalist the mrs needs to go shopping you had better write another article. Its bound to be a shocker. Viva golly.
Of all the atrocities going on I the world just now, this one really must rank pretty low, maybe we should spend our time sorting out more important things.
EyeCarntSpell
02-Aug-15, 07:23
Sometimes journalisms job is to shine a light into those dark recesses of society where unacceptable practise exist and expose them to the full glare of the rest of society. This is one such instance inappropriate,offensive culturally insensitive, racially motivated no excuses about they where kids they are well beyond kids teenagers/ young adults. The media have done a fine job exposing this maybe society can learn a lesson and next years carnival won't be blighted by sloppy racial stereotypes posing as just harmless fun.
I just mentally threw up reading that.
Journalists are parasites who feed off other peoples miss fortune with no thought for the person or what the untruths they peddle to the masses do to these people, it will be interesting and amazing if they are brave enough to come out from the dark side and try to defend their actions with a little more than "its in the public's interest" both local papers have lost their way on what used to be local news and just fill the pages with the same adverts (cash cow) and drivel they think will sell papers
speedo215
02-Aug-15, 10:57
I believe the issue needed to be reported not in the manner it was, it didn't need to be front page news, the front page should of been about the fantastic amount raised on the night, one of the highest for many a year.
George Saint
02-Aug-15, 14:26
The paper got it spot on by putting it on the front page rather than the usual Wheelie Bin Stolen or Mrs Mackay Stepped In Something Nasty front page scoop.
Oh and guess what ? More startling breaking news ........ yes, newspapers like to try and sell more newspapers.
It did a pretty good job of raising an awareness of an outdated attitude which is obviously widespread in this area.
Golligate has no doubt made quite a few people around here grudgingly realise they are stuck in the 70s with some of their views.
Admitting it publicly though is quite another matter as can be seen by quite a few of the sad apologist responses in this forum.
Well done the Courier.
Perambulate
05-Aug-15, 10:06
how much did the courier pay you to write that?
Perambulate
05-Aug-15, 10:10
Journalists are parasites who feed off other peoples miss fortune with no thought for the person or what the untruths they peddle to the masses do to these people, it will be interesting and amazing if they are brave enough to come out from the dark side and try to defend their actions with a little more than "its in the public's interest" both local papers have lost their way on what used to be local news and just fill the pages with the same adverts (cash cow) and drivel they think will sell papers well said. If journalists reported the news rather than their opinion or agenda of the paper they work for then people would have a balanced picture of what was happening and be able to make their own minds up.
George Saint
05-Aug-15, 16:31
how much did the courier pay you to write that?
There's nothing quite like a robust well thought out counter argument.
Well done you.
There's nothing quite like a robust well thought out counter argument.Well done you.OK "George" here's a counter argument for you.
How come you've only joined the "org" since the trashy headline that has possibly destroyed the Wick Gala appeared in the local paper, and why is it you've only commented on the two threads containing reference to the Golliwogs, and the embarrassing journalism displayed by the Courier?..?
Is it possible "George" that you know the part time employed, but full time bedroom keyboard "I'm offended seeker" that ran to the local constabulary in the first place regarding the Wick Gala?.?
I'd imagine you also know the "local residents" who condemned the Golliwogs costumes in the national papers who in actual fact are both at college studying journalism and were never at the Wick gala....
OK "George" here's a counter argument for you.
How come you've only joined the "org" since the trashy headline that has possibly destroyed the Wick Gala appeared in the local paper, and why is it you've only commented on the two threads containing reference to the Golliwogs, and the embarrassing journalism displayed by the Courier?..?
Is it possible "George" that you know the part time employed, but full time bedroom keyboard "I'm offended seeker" that ran to the local constabulary in the first place regarding the Wick Gala?.?
I'd imagine you also know the "local residents" who condemned the Golliwogs costumes in the national papers who in actual fact are both at college studying journalism and were never at the Wick gala....
Do you need actually witness an act of racism to be offended by it?
If you dress up as the KKK and torch a black persons house but no one witnessed it, did it realty happen?
I notice that the John o' Groat Journal issued a front page apology to PPP in last Friday's paper.
Where on earth do the journalists scrape their stories from in the first place in order for them to be having to issue apologies?
The best way to get your story on the front page of the local paper appears to be to have a right good rant on Facebook about the particular problem you're having that hour before moving on to the next rant in the afternoon.
Hopefully rather than have to accept the rules of life that everyone has to live by, a journalist from the Groat will have creeped it on Facebook and then give you a platform to tell everyone how hard done by you are and encourage you to tell the paper buying people of Caithness how terrible you've been treated and how many of the fickle Facebook fraternity have "liked" your rant.
In the meantime the organisation that is on the wrong end of the hard done by accuser is systematically hung drawn and quartered in public under the disguise of a "story"
Shame on the local paper that the people of Caithness were once proud to call our own.
I think it was absolutely right of the paper to report on people dressing up as 'black face' in the 21st century. The fact that they are kids has got nothing to do with it - I have a little one and she will be brought up knowing that dressing up as 'black face' isn't a wee joke in modern society - it's deeply offensive.
The fact that so many people on here seem to be able to brush it off as a wee innocent joke is exactly why they were right to print it as a front page story on the Courier.
Of all the atrocities going on I the world just now, this one really must rank pretty low, maybe we should spend our time sorting out more important things.
You realise that it's the job of the Courier to report on local news yes? By definition, it's the 'Caithness' Courier, not the 'World' Courier. Their job is to report on news in or connected to Caithness.
Well said! Note also thatthose members of the so-called Tartan Army who choose to wear Jimmywigs are also firmly lodged in the same insulting category.
I think it was absolutely right of the paper to report on people dressing up as 'black face' in the 21st century. The fact that they are kids has got nothing to do with it - I have a little one and she will be brought up knowing that dressing up as 'black face' isn't a wee joke in modern society - it's deeply offensive.
The fact that so many people on here seem to be able to brush it off as a wee innocent joke is exactly why they were right to print it as a front page story on the Courier.
The only way you can stop the sensationalist reporting that seems to be too apparent these days in the Groat and Courier is to do what I did and stop buying them.
Poor newspapers that have lost the community spirit that we used to enjoy.
Well said! Note also thatthose members of the so-called Tartan Army who choose to wear Jimmywigs are also firmly lodged in the same insulting category.
Are they insulting themselves?
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