 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi guys,
I'm a reporter for the i newspaper. I hope you are well. I'm trying to speak to people whose skiing holidays have been affected by the lack of snow. If anyone did wish to talk to me you can drop me an email on joe.duggan@inews.co.uk.
Thanks very much.
All the best.
Joe
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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There is loads of snow Joe.
The season is only 2-3 weeks old in some resorts.
The media are creating a story.
Come back if the same conditions exist at the end of Feb.
There you go.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Welcome to Snowheads @Joe Duggan.
I was away for Christmas in Austria with my family, staying at an altitude of c.800m. Conditions were pretty good ( for the time of year ) with the vast majority of pistes open, and lifts running, and mountain huts serving wonderful food all open.
Yes, there was no knee deep powder to play around in, and off piste was non-existent, but I genuinely don't expect that in December.
My son is working as a ski teacher over there again this winter. He is as busy as ever.
I'm away again in February...... am I worried about conditions for this trip ? No, because a) The resorts do a ridiculously good job to maintain the facilities. b) 1 storm, in 1 day, can change everything. and c) even if conditions are sub-optimal, there is always some part of skiing technique to work on, or fun to be had, regardless of the cards you are dealt. 
What is the 'angle' of your piece Joe, and will any input you find here likely to influence that ? Plus, I hope you give the website a mention in your report as a source for any information you gather 
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@Joe Duggan, you've been given a duff assignment.
Where I skied over Christmas (Paradiski, which was fine btw) they are forecasting 50cm of snow over Sunday and Monday with the freezing level going down to 450m by Monday night. Normal service is being resumed as it were.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Joe Duggan, Surely you would want to present a balanced view based on the facts? Is that not the goal of professional journalism? If so, it is a bit strange that you are only interested in speaking to people "whose skiing holidays have been affected by the lack of snow". Would it not be better to speak to anyone currently/recently skiing in the alps to understand the reality of conditions and how they have/have not affected people's holidays?
You might also avail yourself of the combined wisdom of this forum (the largest in the UK for snow sports) about whether the current conditions in the alps are really that unusual. To give you a quick education on the reality:
1. It is very early season for snow sports, no judgement can be made on the overall quality of the season in terms of snow based on Christmas/New Year. Most people would consider late January/early February to be the start of the main season.
2. It is not unusual for there to be little snow/poor conditions at this time of year. Some years are better than others but skiing over the festive period is a bit of a gamble in terms of snow.
3. The people interested in any article you write will by default be weighted towards experienced snow sports enthusiasts. You will engage better with them if you educate yourself a bit more widely on the subject instead of exclusively targeting those with negative experiences.
I think I will drop you an email and will also drop one to your editor. I am particularly concerned about the lack of effort and balance suggested by the wording of your request. I would expect better of the i newspaper. It appears you have seen some stories about poor snow conditions and feel the need to generate similar content, rather than investigating the issue properly.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
Surely you would want to present a balanced view based on the facts? Is that not the goal of professional journalism? If so, it is a bit strange that you are only interested in speaking to people "whose skiing holidays have been affected by the lack of snow". Would it not be better to speak to anyone currently/recently skiing in the alps to understand the reality of conditions and how they have/have not affected people's holidays?
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Well said! Reminds me of "anyone here been raped and speaks English?" which arose out of some war situation a while ago.
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| Quote: |
Is that not the goal of professional journalism?
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No it's to generate click bait headlines to drive traffic to the website, so more adverts can be sold
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| Boris wrote: |
| Quote: |
Is that not the goal of professional journalism?
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No it's to generate click bait headlines to drive traffic to the website, so more adverts can be sold |
Surely that's unprofessional journalism 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| zikomo wrote: |
| @Joe Duggan, Surely you would want to present a balanced view based on the facts? |
He already said that he wants to write an article about how families have had their ski holidays ruined by lack of snow. Given that some resorts struggled over Christmas, some resorts didn't open and a number have now shut that doesn't seem like anything too controversial.
You may ask the editor to write another piece about how great the season has been so far to present a balanced viewpoint.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Thu 5-01-23 14:14; edited 2 times in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Is there any such thing as 'professional journalism'?
most of them know diddly squat about the subject they are writing on.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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There has been some good early season conditions for resort skiing and ski touring in Scotland
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You know it makes sense.
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You dont write off the whole summer because of some rain & clouds in May.
It is still very early in the season. Some areas are struggling more than others.
Go look at Bulgaria for example - Only a single piste is open in Bansko for example. A red run (no 8 on the map). People learning to ski/snowboard on a red!
While places like Ischgl has 3/4 of it's pistes open.
A couple of years ago resorts in the alps had one of the best early Januarys in recent memory, but hardly any decent snowfall after that.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Well, to be honest, the conditions around the northern Haute Savoie were incredibly bad, though as noted sometimes Christmas break is nearly snow free. What WAS different this year was the warm temperatures, which made snowmaking impossible below, say, 1800 meters. The combination of the two meant that a fair number of holiday-makers had to change course.
Don't know why some people here are slagging on the OP. I've been a journalist for 35 years and you write about what people are talking about, in the fairest way you can, on the deadline you've been given. No, most of us are not experts on any given field, but we know where to find the experts, and most are happy to pass on their knowledge.
@JDL65, et al: What do you do for a living? Is it ethically as pure as the driven snow? (or, in this case, as the brown and white patches of slush). Is there something about your profession that, perhaps, could drive others crazy? Do tell...
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Pasigal, Really? You think the way to write about this subject in the fairest way possible is to ONLY ask for input from people whose holidays have been affected by poor snow? I would have thought that any sensible journalist would ask more open questions.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Nothing wrong with that story. He found someone who didn't get to ski, had some flooding, cited some sources on record high temps, wrote the piece and moved on. What's the issue?
If you want the encyclopedic history of climate change in the Alps, I suggest you look elsewhere. It's daily journalism, not a doctoral dissertation. As we used to say only half jokingly, "yesterday's news tomorrow."
Yes, I am standing up for my profession here.
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@Pasigal, The OP stated he wanted to write a story about ski holidays affected by lack of snow. I merely showed that he has already written such an article so why write another?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@halfhand, whilst I agree with the view on taking one side in a general editorial piece, and would hope that as part of any such article by the OP there is a balance provided (time will tell I guess), I'm also with @Pasigal on this to a degree, he's looking to write an article on people affected, so has asked for responses from people who have or are being affected.
If he asked 'anyone how are the snow condition and the skiing?;' they wouldn't get the focus on the issue he's reporting on.
To be fair, as lots have pointed out, someone could write a similar piece every year/season, just would have to pick which month and which ski area to write about.
If you wanted to write an article on 'the dangers of smart motorways' you ask people who have been involved in accidents on smart motorways, not the rest who never have been.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
If you wanted to write an article on 'the dangers of smart motorways' you ask people who have been involved in accidents on smart motorways, not the rest who never have been.
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And ignore the statistics and get people worked up about a false premise.  There are bad journalists, and good ones. I encountered both on a trip to the Sahel region of Africa, during the drought. A couple of shockers from the Daily Express. So disappointed not to find emaciated children at death's door in the town we visited (because it was on the river Niger and therefore had supplies) that they concocted a completely false premise, and a staged photo, and "datelined it" with such stupidity that they appeared to to be 200 miles west of the coast, out in the ocean. And they drank so much, in the extreme temperatures, that they became too unwell to travel in the Hercules like the rest of the party and persuaded the Express to pay for them to go on a scheduled airline.
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There is another point to consider… an unnecessarily negative article, a hit piece if you like, may lead to people cancelling or not booking, even when/where there is good snow. Many businesses will have done it hard over the last 3 years and could use some support today.
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Why are people kicking poor old Joe for trying to do some research before writing ?
Given that most "news" output is 5% news and 95% comment, opinion and conjecture then I'd have thought somebody actually taking 5 minutes to research and think about what they write would put Joe in the top quartile of journalists.
Judging things by inputs rather than outputs seems to have become fashionably normalised these days.
If Joe wants a follow up to their earlier piece "Area man regrets going to to a cheap-ass low lying resort at historically snow-uncertain time of year, because it's a 'Family' resort" then I don't think it's our place to criticise them for trying to get some source material, rather than. just making stuff up.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@OuatteDePhoque,
I think people on here want to point out that it is not all lush green fields & meadows across the alps. Many resorts are open & having functioning perfectly fine. It is only small places that either not many people are aware of, or have dubious links to large ski areas.
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Lazy journalism - I can’t remember David Walsh asking cyclists on Strava what they thought of Lance Armstrong before writing his 2-page expose in The Sunday Times.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It's kind of ambulance-chasing, isn't it?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
A couple of shockers from the Daily Express.
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I am shocked. Who would've thought it?
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The word I first typed was ruder but ended in the same four letters.
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You know it makes sense.
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It's easy. The OP could:
1. Just search through this forum for posts related to conditions this winter. He would have found credible posters with real knowledge that he could then have approached for more detail.
2. He could have asked for opinions on the current weather/conditions from those recently/currently in the Alps
3. He could have also asked if anyone had been affected, positively or negatively, by the current weather/conditions.
He did none of those simple things. What he did was ask for confirmation for a pre-disposed conclusion, presumably to give it credence. He specifically asked for inout from those whose holiday had been affected by poor snow. No interest expressed at all in what the conditions are actually like, nor how unusual/problematic they are. It is not "journalism" as it is in no way collecting facts or even attempting to gain insight into an issue.
I have no problem at all with a piece about people who have been negatively impacted by unusually poor skiing conditions. The context, however, is important. E.g. to what extent are the conditions poor and to what extent is that unusual. I don't see how asking for such a limited sub-set of experiences could provide any context at all.
Attempts to justify this as journalism are worrying - it is not. It is generating copy for a pre-determined article because everyone else is doing it so The i needs to get onto the google list for stories about conditions in the alps.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Weathercam, exactly how it should have been positioned as an overall piece/article and not
'Thousands impacted by poor snow as a result of climate change'
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Headline in the I on Saturday.
"UK's biggest online snow community rally against claims that climate change is impacting winter sports holidays"
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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"Uk online snow community point out that snow sports holidays have been affected by lack of snow in the past but acknowledge that climate change will make such adverse weather more frequent in the future".
Not exactly snappy, but does make the important distinction between weather and climate. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Aleutian wrote: |
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A couple of shockers from the Daily Express.
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I am shocked. Who would've thought it? |
Weirdly the Express normally prints a "Worst winter on record forecast" pretty much every year around November
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@pam w,
Sun's version - winter sports enthusiast causing climate catasrophe
Daily mail - worst winter on record forecast to hit UK
Mirror - uk government won't give in to stirkers demands whilst cabinet go on ski holidays.
Telegraph - sunak sets out radical plans to bring the country around and save the environment and protect ski holidays
Guardian - kier Starter takes eco friendly ski holiday at dry slope ahead of new policy release.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Classic snow heads. I don't think poor old @Joe Duggan, knew what he was letting himself in for.....
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| ansta1 wrote: |
@pam w,
Sun's version - winter sports enthusiast causing climate catasrophe
Daily mail - worst winter on record forecast to hit UK
Mirror - uk government won't give in to stirkers demands whilst cabinet go on ski holidays.
Telegraph - sunak sets out radical plans to bring the country around and save the environment and protect ski holidays
Guardian - kier Starter takes eco friendly ski holiday at dry slope ahead of new policy release. |
Brillant.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| zikomo wrote: |
| Classic snow heads. I don't think poor old @Joe Duggan, knew what he was letting himself in for..... |
Well, he hasn't been back
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He's 22 and hasn't figured out how to use ctrl-c, ctrl-v to cut and paste all the quotes from here into his 'article' ready for the weekend rather than actually write it. That or he's trawling mumsnet and holiday review feedback sites for cannon fodder to quote.
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FAQ
