The Daily Monitor, Thursday May 9, 2012
Today we are browsing this newspaper for 5 things that catch the eye
A. Page 2: Picture of the day
A lorry tries to wade through River Ndugutu...
A lorry can never be said to be ‘wading’. It is impossible. It can try to navigate the river, get through the river – even float through – but never can it wade. I did notice that to the right of the lorry, actually in the water, are some very small children playing. The level of the ‘river’ the lorry is meant to ‘wade’ through does not even come up to their knees. I wonder why the lorry person is concerned. A bit of photo editing to include debris from the broken bridge or something as dramatic could have made this photo better. Was the comment about the big car belonging to area MP Kamanda Bataringaya meant to be tongue in cheek?
B. Page 4: I can never cross to NRM, Anywar says
Para 1: Kitgum Woman MP Beatrice Anywar yesterday said she can never to cross to the ruling NRM party... no comment. We can spot the buffalo individually.
Para 4: Recently, Ms Anywar has been seen closely with President Museveni when he visited her in the hospital following her accident.
Aside from what is grammatically wrong with that sentence, I think we are stretching the facts a little too much. Ms Anywar had the accident on 4th November 2011 – 6 months ago. Any Head of State will make certain trips or visits that provide a good photo opportunity for political capital. Visiting an opposition MP admitted in hospital is one such trip. So how does that qualify as ‘Ms Anywar seen closely with the President RECENTLY’? Please, people.
C. Page 5: VP Sekandi’s convoy in nasty accident (continued from page 1)
The last two paras, which were an attempt to add meat to the bones of the accident story, are very confusing. I quote:
The number of people who die in road accidents countrywide is on the increase, with 2,954 people killed in 2010, representing an eight per cent rise, according to the Crime and Traffic report of 2010.
Okay, shocking! But eight per cent rise from what and of what? And how did the Crime and Traffic report of 2010 anticipate the eight per cent increase without even knowing the death toll in 2012? Is there a mathematical formula predicting the number of accident victims that we should know about? On to the next confusing para:
A total of 14,148 people (75 per cent) were hospitalised with serious injuries after they were involved in road traffic accidents (Hold on! I thought we were talking about the number of dead people! Of those dead people, were 75 percent first hospitalised before they then died? 75 percent of what?) ...while 1,742 people suffered minor injuries. (I’m glad these people are relatively all right, but where? And in which year?)
D. The following is respectfully ripped from Wikipedia. Hopefully it will provide us with different and descriptive ways to say ‘road traffic accident’. There are several other interesting things to read there which would enrich any accident story.
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, road traffic collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction, such as a tree or utility pole.
E. Page 8: UPC leaders defy Otunnu, set date for party’s delegates conference
I believe when we are writing about a delegates’ conference, there will always be the apostrophe after ‘delegates’. This story alternates the usage, from the headline to the third-last para. Is it delegates or delegates’?
