Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Check Your Facts Before You Bark!

aNt's aNgle:
 
What's happened to some of these animal NGOs these days? They seem to be acting more nutty than ever before.
 
So desperate are we that we have to resort to putting in made up stories in our blogposts just to stay relevant and accepted?
 
This morning I received several calls from Petaling Jaya residents who were terrified that the city council's (MBPJ) dogcatchers were on a "massive doghunt" all over the city today.
 
They were reacting to posts put out by a local animal NGO from - of all things - an "anonymous tip off."
 
I can think of nothing more laughable, and at the same time pathetic than to quote from a source that one has absolutely no knowledge of.
 
What is further shocking is that the blogger is supposed to be an academic of some sort. 
 
Don't you check your facts first before you put something out - especially when what you are writing about is meant to cause fear in your readers?
 
The most responsible thing for any professional writer to do is to counter check the facts before such trash is printed. A simple call to MBPJ or one of the 24 councillors was waiting only a phone call away. 
 
Well, to that amateur writer whom I can only conclude that wanted cheap publicity, MBPJ never conducts "massive doghunts" in its Standard Operating Procedure.
 
Dogs are caught only when complainants report about them. And there is also a procedure to follow before any animal is captured. 
 
To the blogger concerned, whilst you are chewing on these facts that you were too lazy to pursue, it might be an idea if you also considered a crash course on responsible journalism as well.
 
And if your excuse for doing so was a "reminder" to tell pet lovers to keep their canines inside of their homes, please don't use MBPJ as a scapegoat to justify your ends.       
 
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