UPDATE: BBC (and now the Independent) commit the same FAIL. See below.
More “Row to the Pole” nonsense writ large:
Ummmm…no, Mr. Hough, the Telegraph’s headline and story are simply wrong. You are a victim of spin and/or a failed geography lesson.
First congratulations, to the RttP team for reaching their destination, which is not a pole of any kind, much less the actual “North Pole”. I didn’t think they would make it.
As I explained before the trip even started, there’s no “pole” achievement here, not even close. They are 738 KM short of the actual magnetic pole. The 1996 magnetic pole doesn’t exist there anymore and thus can’t be a pole of any kind.
The Telegraph article says:
The successful trip to the Pole, described as the “greatest ocean rows of all time”, was only possible because of more seasonal ice-melt in the Arctic that has opened the waters up.
No mention of the fact that they aren’t even close. The actual North pole is 790 miles away:
The FAIL is strong with this one. h/t to reader “Angry Exile”
And the BBC is in on the act of shoddy journalism too:
Kitefreak says:
BBC reporting that the Pultney rowing expedition has reached “the north pole”. Reported on Radio Scotland at 8am (main news bulletin) and on the news website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-14665937
Absolutely no mention on the radio or the website that it’s the magnetic north pole from ’96, no, they just say the folks have rowed TO THE NORTH POLE.
Pure propaganda.
UPDATE: The BBC commits the same FAIL here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9573000/9573302.stm
What a bunch of liars.
UPDATE2: The load of porkies continues…now the Independent repeats the lie.
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Mustn’t dilute the message with facts now, must we.
There was too much ice for them to actually row to their arbitrary destination, they had to drag their boats across the ice.
Talk about being poles apart 😉
Geographical ignorance knows no bounds. Distortions abound.
Did they happen to report that they had seen father Christmas as I always understood that he resided at the North Pole?
Congratulations to the rowers, a mighty achievement even though they are a long way from the m. pole. Will they ‘fess up to the fact on return? Typical sloppy UK reporting.
Do they intend rowing back or are they to be airlifted out before the nasty weather starts?
What a joke, ok they rowed north, had a fun adventure but in no way went to the “North Pole”
Congrats for getting funding for this adventure and succeding in your goal, but to dress this as proof of global warming is a lie on the scale of the hocky stick!
So they had to drag that boat across sections of ice, which means that they did not row all the way, they walked for some of it on ice… and where they ended up was not the North Pole, nor the current magnetic North Pole, So it was not a Row to the pole in any way, shape or form.
Hmmmp!
“trust our journalist, with the highest integrity” …./sarc off…
I don’t know what it is they’re all shoveling, but it sure isn’t white.
‘The father-of-two captained the team that broke the London to Paris rowing record in 1999 and walked unsupported to the North Pole in 1992’
Speaking by satellite phone the Dumfries-born adventurer and motivational speaker added:
” Arrgh, back in ’92 ah dropped me wallet but ah cudney find it, so me ‘n’ me mates went back far another loook!”
/ misquote
The Telegraph photo produced above shows ice in the background, lots of it and it looks old thick ice. Couldn’t the group produce a photo of them rowing in a boat in a sea with at least a few ice floes, if not a clear blue sea totally devoid of ice? Where is the ice-free Arctic ocean they rowed in?
You must always leave out information that would only confuse people. It is important to do what is necessary to achieve the proper outcome. %^P
It’s the new kind of air brush don’t ya know. If Julia Roberts can look flawless (and lifeless by the way) with an air brush on the digital photo, by gawd AGW can be air brushed too…and thus look equally lifeless.
As Kate would say – time to juxtapose:
“after the ice caps melted”
“sea level hits a pothole”
The comments button is conspicuous in its absence in this Aug. 26th Telegraph article. The July 30th article has the comments button activated. Note the comments posted.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/canada/8672330/Explorers-begin-attempt-to-row-to-North-Pole.html
Typical, just typical.
I heard a satellite phone interview on the BBC Radio 4 Today program in which the normally well-informed and probing interviewer was entirely bamboozled. Sadly I believe he was deliberately misled by the actual rowers and not just the promoters of the event. It is sad that people who have actually accomplished something genuinely remarkable feel the need to lie, or at least connive at a lie to make it seem even more remarkable. Why? Are there really no honorable people left? Are there no modest people left? The whole business leaves a vile taste.
Pure propaganda.
Well, duh. That was the whole point of this exercise from the beginning, and there was never any shortage of alarmist journalists waiting to report it with glee.
You can pass messages on to the Telegraph here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/form/
Misleading, yes, factually incorrect yes, blatant propoganda probably…..
Never let the facts stand in the way of a good story……….
In all fairness, this is the same “North Pole” that Jeremy Clarkson and James May drove to on Top Gear’s Polar Special.
“…in a journey that encountered polar bears, collisions with icebergs, and biting seals.”
How do you collide with an iceberg if you’re rowing?
Didn’t see it?
You’d think they could have swerved to miss it.
And doing it more than once?
What time does the earth cross the moons orbit as I want to walk to the moon.