“Admittedly, there are few would ever undertake a year-long journey in search of different species of mice.”
That was printed in the Yukon News, just after we arrived home in Whitehorse, Yukon. We were joined by friends and family for the final 70 mile ride back home, after we cycled over the White Pass from Skagway. Then we were greeted by a flurry of interviews. But that whacky statement in the Yukon News was not the first of its kind.
Supposedly any press attention, whether it is positive or negative, accurate or riddled with errors, helps your project. We’ve been blessed with plenty of media attention during our travels, but nearly every time there have been mistakes, such as:
A TV program from our home in Whitehorse superimposed a silent clip of us all chuckling, when our voices were discussing the decline of Spotted Owls.
A news station in Florida showed footage of a Turkey Vulture while I said, “There’s a Bald Eagle!”
A newspaper in Florida wrote that the big year world record holder traveled 100,000 miles, (he traveled 270,000 air miles) and mentioned that he raised 60,000 dollars (as far as I know he raised no money, though probably spent way more than that amount on travel expenses).
An article that was syndicated to big city papers throughout Texas diminished Ken’s 57 year old age to 16.
But not all articles about us are flawed. Jane Braxton Little, the author that wrote the Audubon Magazine article (March/April 2008) meticulously went over every quote with us, and Audubon’s fact checker made sure the article was completely accurate.
If you find any inconsistencies in this blog, shhhh!
1 comment:
You have my sympathy. I used to give Bald Eagle programs for the San Bernardino National Forest and once spent a day with a reporter and photographer for the San Bernardino Sun. The front page story featured a photo of a Golden sitting on a telephone pole from someone's stock library. Their response? "Well an eagle's an eagle isn't it?
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