The BBC being absolutely on the button.

[catch56@kolektiva.social]

@rachel their chief political correspondent had never heard of anarcho-syndicalism a few years ago either.

[m@martinh.net]

@rachel Tech correspondents right now frantically asking ChatGPT how is website made?

[bashstkid@mastodon.online]

@rachel Being Bloody Clueless.

Imagine being called a military correspondent if your first piece to camera was “I’ve discovered these things called guns, they’re great, now listen to my opinions on wars”

[erik@mastodon.infrageeks.social]

@rachel How about instead of “Cyber Correspondent” they try talking to “Run of the mill sysadmin”?

While I realize we aren’t generally as photogenic, they might actually have a clue

[remittancegirl@mstdn.social]

@rachel I am not a programmer, I just had a couple of Word Press websites and even I know what PHP is.

How badly is the BBC paying these days.

[butterflyoffire@mstdn.fr]

@rachel 🤭

[pikesley@mastodon.me.uk]

@Nickiquote @rachel

I am reminded of when a "tech journalist" (I think for the BBC, but my memory is hazy) discovered that WhatsApp groupchats have a limit of 1024 members, and rather than thinking "oh yes that's 2^10, nothing to see here", seemed genuinely puzzled why they'd picked such an arbitrary number

Not knowing what PHP is, is arguably worse, but...

[alisonw@fedimon.uk]

@rachel
If your 'expert' doesn't know of the existence of something basic to their field of alleged expertise then maybe they aren't the 'expert' you pay them to be!

[eviloatmeal@floppy.peepee.party]

@rachel

[gudenau@hachyderm.io]

@rachel HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW PHP IN THAT POSITION???

Man we are so cooked.

[helle@tacobelllabs.net]

@rachel He was too busy cybering. — Vi

[mjr@masto.bike]

@erik @rachel but many of us may fail to stop ourselves sighing or rolling our eyes when the presenter says something especially wrong and mad. I still resent them cutting the Click Online / Click / Digital Planet teams - many know what #php is, and I think most would know at least who to ask.

[bez_lightyear@crispsandwi.ch]

@rachel "Cyber Correspondent" = some BBC bigwig's son who has shown another BBC journalist a TikTok clip.

[chapter1@mastodon.social]

@rachel Please don't show this to Ed Zitron

[erik@mastodon.infrageeks.social]

@mjr @rachel Agreed. This is part of why I stopped watching TV, especially “news” as it was just enraging me on every topic that I have any experience with.

[grob@mstdn.social]

@rachel lol I can't anymore "Joe Tidy" that's just gotta be made up

[hllizi@hespere.de]

@rachel he's probably spent most of his career as a metaverse torso?

[hllizi@hespere.de]

@rachel or it's just a lie to sound relatable to the millions who heard the name for the first time. Catering to the nerds probably isn't part of his job description.

[pikesley@mastodon.me.uk]

@Nickiquote @rachel

"We sent our Cricket Correspondent to Lord's to cover the test match but most of his reporting consisted of 'The bowlers kept changing ends every six balls, I don't understand what's happening'"

[david_chisnall@infosec.exchange]

@BashStKid @rachel

I just filed a complaint about this. I asked which of the following they'd consider acceptable for a domain expert:

Economics correspondent Joe Tidy says he didn't know put orders on stock trades existed until yesterday morning - it's "one of these things we take for granted", he says.

Weather correspondent Joe Tidy says he didn't know El Niños existed until yesterday morning - it's "one of these things we take for granted", he says.

Sports correspondent Joe Tidy says he didn't know the off-side rule existed until yesterday morning - it's "one of these things we take for granted", he says.