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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To Think That Journalists Need A Reality Check?

42 replies

CurryLover55 · 10/06/2021 20:12

Just read a Daily Mail headline “ Elderly Woman Gunned Down”. You would assume at least in her 80s. She was 61! Only 6 years older than me & I am far from elderly thanks very much! Bloody cheek!

OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · 10/06/2021 20:20

Well the important part is that she was shot surely ...Shock

CoronaBanana · 10/06/2021 20:24

61 is not even old let alone elderly, yanbu.

Who gunned her down, anyway?

RuggerHug · 10/06/2021 20:25

It's the daily mail, I would have thought 'Gunned down Granny' was more their style but I still agree with you.

stopgap · 10/06/2021 20:26

God, yes. 61 is young. And the poor woman.

Serpenta · 10/06/2021 20:28

I'm surprised it wasn't 'Elderly Woman, Who Lives in £325,000 Swindon Home, Gunned Down'.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 10/06/2021 20:39

Because "women gunned down" doesn't have the same emotion to it.
Same like you don't get man/woman killed, you get mum/father of x killed.

It's all about clickbaits and emotions.

Agree though that 61 isn't elderly!

CurryLover55 · 10/06/2021 20:54

And of course the fact that she was gunned down on her own doorstep is absolutely the most important thing & horrific

OP posts:
jcyclops · 10/06/2021 23:21

The United Nations defines "elderly" for developed countries to be 60+

Retirement Homes for the "elderly" in the UK almost always have a lower age limit of 55, but some are 60.

The NHS and ONS tend to use 65+ as elderly.

fallfallfall · 10/06/2021 23:31

journalists need a paycheck and many don't care how they get it, many mislead, steal stories and twist the truth to suit the political wind.

FaceyRomford · 11/06/2021 00:09

You expect accuracy from a UK journalist? Well there's a first time for everything.

WettyHainthrop · 11/06/2021 00:10

Don’t tar all journalists with the same shitty Daily Mail brush.

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 11/06/2021 00:15

"Woman below state retirement age gunned down" doesn't have the same ring.

esterwin · 11/06/2021 00:30

This depends on your age. I remember years ago a woman I knew complaining about the TV news talking about this elderly couple who had been murdered. They were in their sixties and she was outraged. I agreed with her, but secretly I thought sixties was elderly.
As I get nearer to it, sixties starts to look quite young.

JaniceBattersby · 11/06/2021 00:30

You know that 79,700 of the UK’s 80k journalists don’t work for the DM or Mail Online, don’t you? Most of us are decent, hardworking people who want the best for the communities we work in. I’ve never made up any bullshit to put in the paper I work at, or twisted something to make the story something it isn’t, or lied.

Plus, calling someone over 60 ‘elderly’ is a grey area (pardon the pun) really, isn’t it. I think over 60 is the right ballpark. I’d probably put it at 65 myself but it’s subjective really, I guess.

redfairy · 11/06/2021 00:42

I'd be doubly pissed off if I'd been shot then read that report the next day calling me elderly at 61. Four foot snakes!

ErrolTheDragon · 11/06/2021 00:55

Plus, calling someone over 60 ‘elderly’ is a grey area (pardon the pun) really, isn’t it.

Lousy pun... I'm 60 and still natural blonde.

In the context of a newspaper headline it's lazy ageist stereotyping. Was 'elderly' really the most appropriate adjective to describe her? I doubt it.

Goldenbear · 11/06/2021 01:10

I'm nowhere near 60 but don't think it's 'elderly' or even a 'grey area' consideration as there is nothing to consider, it is not old. I would say old age is more like 70 now and elderly 80. I don't think I'm the only one to think this.

Hughbert · 11/06/2021 01:10

Very tragic for the person in question.

However, a pp says 61 isn't old. What is it then? Certainly not middle age and not yet elderly. It is old and that's ok. You dont have to feel it or behave it, but 60 is definitely not young.

ThinWomansBrain · 11/06/2021 01:16

You rely on/expect high standards of journalism from the Daily Mail?🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

TruelyonelastSchlep · 11/06/2021 01:21

Obviously you must be very old and past it OP. The DM think so at least 😂

RickiTarr · 11/06/2021 01:31

YABVU unreasonable to lump all journalists together like that.

You know there are very accomplished people writing very good quality work for all manner of esteemed publications? That some journalists risk their lives to get news out of war zones? That some win prestigious prizes for their work?

Maybe you don’t. Some Mumsnetters have very strange ideas about journalism that seem to come from reading too much Daily Mail and nothing of quality to balance it out.

MissCruellaDeVil · 11/06/2021 01:32

You're going to upset a lot of journalists with an attitude like that OP. 60+ is considered elderly, you don't have to feel it, or act it, but it's still elderly.

RickiTarr · 11/06/2021 01:35

@LaurieFairyCake

Well the important part is that she was shot surely ...Shock
Oh don’t worry about stuff like deadly weapons and bullets and blood. OP will tell you what to worry about. Grin
FelicityBeedle · 11/06/2021 01:43

Elderly doesn’t mean doddery and frail, just significantly older than the median, which in the U.K. is 40. It’s not an insult

CurryLover55 · 11/06/2021 07:25

Oh for goodness sake - ok I should have put SOME journalists! It was one paper so I wasn’t referring to all journalists.

OP posts:
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