Media bias is to misunderstand statistics and cause/effect

vince

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Did you happen to notice what a nice, quiet month July was by chance?
I did notice that, and it was nice. But I must say it's time for a little pick-me-up in this section. The EU is boring and the birthers have been done to death.
 

HazelGod

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This is bizarre: being told by some guy who goes by HazelGod that correct grammar is incorrect, which apparently means that you also don't know that "media" is a plural noun. There are a number of them: data also is a plural noun, so correct usage would be: "The data are reliable and valid" not "The data is reliable and valid." Check a dictionary or grammar guide, HazelGod, before calling a professional editor (me) an "idiot."

I actually did, and I'm surprised you're unfamiliar with the concept of the collective singular, Mr. Professional Editor. Then again, given the overall quality of any random sampling of modern publishing, perhaps I shouldn't be. :rolleyes:

Not only was the poster's original grammatical construction perfectly correct, but don't you think it's both puerile and pedantic to nitpick such things not germane to the topic? For a professional not only to do so, but to do so erroneously, seems...well...downright idiotic.
 

jason_els

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This is bizarre: being told by some guy who goes by HazelGod that correct grammar is incorrect, which apparently means that you also don't know that "media" is a plural noun. There are a number of them: data also is a plural noun, so correct usage would be: "The data are reliable and valid" not "The data is reliable and valid." Check a dictionary or grammar guide, HazelGod, before calling a professional editor (me) an "idiot."

There is a difference between British and American English in grammatical handling of collective nouns. In the UK, and other Commonwealth nations, collective nouns are referred to in the plural. In the US, they're referred to in the singular.