Uproar or whisper?

As already noted by Swindon Centric, the Adver has yet again managed a new low in its reporting. You’d think that if you’re going to attack other journalists for over-the-top reporting, you’d take a balanced approach with a calm headline. No, that’s not the way things seem to work at the Adver. Their first attempt was relatively staid.

BBC report labels Swindon as ‘town going nowhere fast’

Not happy with that, an hour later exactly the same story was re-published on their website, now headlined in full hysteria mode.

BBC jibe at town causes uproar

Uproar? Really? They quote three local politicians, all of whom seem quite calm. If Mr Wallin thinks that an MP saying ‘I thought overall the piece reflected quite well what is going on in Swindon.’ indicates uproar, he’s clearly led a rather sheltered life.

And it’s not as though Mr Easton’s BBC report was the only one to speak of Swindon in that way this weekend. His ‘A town going nowhere fast’ mirrored Ms Buckley’s ‘Swindon risks getting caught on the road to nowhere’ in the Times the day before.

As in much of Britain, there are many things going nowhere fast in Swindon at the moment… and journalism in the Adver is definitely amongst them.