Angry People in Local Newspapers.
November 2, 2009 12:42 AM   Subscribe

Angry People in Local Newspapers feels "sorry for local news photographers. They are hugely skilled and poorly paid, and sent out to photograph miserable people pointing at dog turds. Here, we celebrate their work"
posted by minifigs (30 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Oh lordy:

"Now we're in the Press Gazette.

"If they're in any way angry, we would encourage them to submit a photograph by way of demonstration."
posted by Pronoiac at 1:35 AM on November 2, 2009


I wanted to like this, and there are a few funny "angry" photos but mostly it's a big scoop of meh.
posted by IvoShandor at 1:44 AM on November 2, 2009


The (tangentially related but nonetheless hilarious) Framley Examiner.
posted by Edwahd at 2:22 AM on November 2, 2009 [3 favorites]


Great idea for a blog but poorly executed.
posted by GavinR at 3:59 AM on November 2, 2009 [1 favorite]


This is not good.
posted by futureisunwritten at 4:31 AM on November 2, 2009


I like the idea, but the pictures are all so small that it's really hard to appreciate the photos.
posted by MegoSteve at 4:46 AM on November 2, 2009


Residents angry, slightly whiffy over bins. Although - if we are going to be strict about this - some of the angry people in this picture do not seem to be very angry at all.
Baying hate mob in a rage over dog turds There's your culprit - front left, big nose, pretending we haven't seem him.


Local Meef irked by lack of anger in actual pictures, irate at absence of proofreading, and peeved by dearth of droll captions.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:17 AM on November 2, 2009


*gazes sternly through broken window at post*
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:38 AM on November 2, 2009 [2 favorites]


I wanted to like this, too, but I have to second the "meh." Unfortunately I spent a goodly amount of years attempting to make good photos out of exactly these types of shite assignments and am all too familiar with trying to polish dog turds into gold. Now I just take happy wedding photos! yay! *rainbows and flowers and unicorns*
posted by phogirl at 6:35 AM on November 2, 2009 [1 favorite]


Mean spirited to the point of openly calling people "ugly".
posted by gallois at 7:10 AM on November 2, 2009 [1 favorite]


I was going to say what GavinR said.

I wanted to like this, but can't. Too small photos, not sure what some of the issues are at first glance.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:26 AM on November 2, 2009


What gallios said. Mean and disrespectful.
posted by jokeefe at 7:51 AM on November 2, 2009


Mean and disrespectful

I could live with mean and disrespectful if it was funny. But it's not.
posted by rhymer at 8:04 AM on November 2, 2009


Yeah, they lost me at "ugly."
posted by HotToddy at 8:22 AM on November 2, 2009


Could be done a lot better.

But still, it brings me back to my local journalism days... something I never ever ever again want to do. The idea of having to go interview some jejtone about how angry he is that his neighbor complained about his American flag or, worse yet, go take pictures of a burnt-to-cinders house and ask the former occupants how this will impact their lives makes me break out in hives. Worst fucking job ever.
posted by Never teh Bride at 9:12 AM on November 2, 2009


Mean-spirited and nasty, not worth a click. The author seriously lacks empathy.
posted by tommasz at 9:38 AM on November 2, 2009


Now I just take happy wedding photos! yay! *rainbows and flowers and unicorns*


wow - a dream job capturing someone's special day - you must really love it : )
posted by sgt.serenity at 9:40 AM on November 2, 2009


I think this is by Metafilter's own Scaryduck, who writes the award-winning eponymous blog.
posted by tapeguy at 9:58 AM on November 2, 2009


my sister in law was a local journalist in her youth. they couldn't afford a dedicated shooter, so the reporters did alll their own photography. she has many stories of being awakened in the deep of night by her editor to go and get fresh flash fotos of the latest car wreck. Said her rural regional paper was locally known as the "Crash & Burn Gazette."
posted by lodurr at 10:22 AM on November 2, 2009


Self Link.

A photojournalist had to come out and take pics of me trimming plastic grass for a story that ran on the front page of my local rag. I felt for him.
posted by Danf at 12:14 PM on November 2, 2009


people are angry because:

"Arsonists strike across March over weekend when a sports club and a school were targets"

"Arsonists also targeted the home of a 93 year old deaf pensioner who lives alone. Luckily she was not at home at the time. "

for me, this sums up why the site is shite. he is mocking people for being angry about this? agree with previous posters comments: lacks empathy, mean, and unfunny
posted by marienbad at 12:40 PM on November 2, 2009


Angry people, meet glum councillors.
posted by baggymp at 12:53 PM on November 2, 2009


Writing in my own defence if you'll let me:

"Pics are too small" - Pics are the size and resolution in which they are published in the original medium

"Mean-spirited and nasty" - Speaking as a journalist, you are missing the point by a very wide margin. The idea of this site, which - as you might have pointed out - does not stand up to close scrutiny, is to highlight one of the great cliches of local press reporting.

It's not meant to be judgemental, high-brow nor of Earth-shattering importance. It's a low-quality, single-joke blog knocked up in five minutes (literally) which accidentally got 30k page views in less than a week.
posted by scaryduck at 1:17 PM on November 2, 2009


it's good for three minutes' amusement. otoh, scaryduck didn't post it, he just made it. so...not sure where to go with that, or if it needs to go anywhere....i can say with some confidence that it first did me no harm.
posted by lodurr at 1:27 PM on November 2, 2009


I think going forward, I'll wait until after coffee before posting anything to Metafilter. I will say though that a lot of people seem to have missed the point or at least didn't see the humour that I saw in it. I thought the point of the site was to point out the cliche of the photo of the angry person standing in front of the object of their anger in local newspapers. I didn't pay much attention to the captions, mea culpa.
posted by minifigs at 3:51 PM on November 2, 2009


Yeah, the level of point-missing here is immense. Maybe you just need to be more familiar with the culture and clichés of British local papers to understand why this is funny.
posted by flashboy at 4:25 PM on November 2, 2009


it actually translates to ex-urban/rural America pretty well; i think people just took it too seriously.
posted by lodurr at 5:45 PM on November 2, 2009


This blog is absolutely amazing. I love it.

::sends to all his journo friends::
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 6:09 AM on November 3, 2009


Oh and for the record, I've not bothered to read a single bit of text in the blog. The collection of photos showcasing this sort of stereotypical newspaper photography is wonderful enough as it is.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 6:14 AM on November 3, 2009


Heh, Scaryduck and Tom Watson in the same thread. Metafilter: hub of the UK Interwebs.

I don't think the site is mean spirited, but I prefer glum councillors (speaking as a local government officer).
posted by athenian at 1:36 PM on November 3, 2009


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