Adresseavisen - 9 Stories
1) Bestemor gjemte rakettrampe (Catalina Musinoi) 30 June 2006
http://www.adressa.no/nyheter/utenriks/article684057.ece
In this story the Norwegian journalist writes the "Royal British Columbia Police" to describe what are actually called the "Royal Canadian Mounted Police." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are the national police force in Canada, and are used in 8 of the 10 Canadian provinces to provide policing in smaller communities where there is not large population for a city police force. The mistake here is that there is no such police force in Canada called the "Royal British Columbia Police Force." The journalist must be making reference to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The name in Norwegian is: "kongelige kanadiske ridende politi." After e-mailing the journalist the first time on 14th of July no response regarding her mistake was received; after sending a second e-mail to the journalist she indicated (on 17th of July) she would correct the mistake. As of 31st of July there has been no correction to the mistake in the story.
2) Imponerende monsterscene (BORGHILD FISKÅ ) 14 November 2005 http://www.adressa.no/forbruker/reiseliv/article591115.ece
3) Dinosaurer og storbyliv (By JAN NORDSTRAND) 29 June 2005
In this story the Norwegian journalist writes the "Royal British Columbia Police" to describe what are actually called the "Royal Canadian Mounted Police." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are the national police force in Canada, and are used in 8 of the 10 Canadian provinces to provide policing in smaller communities where there is not large population for a city police force. The mistake here is that there is no such police force in Canada called the "Royal British Columbia Police Force." The journalist must be making reference to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The name in Norwegian is: "kongelige kanadiske ridende politi." After e-mailing the journalist the first time on 14th of July no response regarding her mistake was received; after sending a second e-mail to the journalist she indicated (on 17th of July) she would correct the mistake. As of 31st of July there has been no correction to the mistake in the story.
2) Imponerende monsterscene (BORGHILD FISKÅ ) 14 November 2005 http://www.adressa.no/forbruker/reiseliv/article591115.ece
3) Dinosaurer og storbyliv (By JAN NORDSTRAND) 29 June 2005
http://www.adressa.no/kultur/musikk/article520189.ece
In this story about the Canadian province of Alberta celebrating its 100th anniversary as a province in 2005, there are two mistakes. The journalist writes that Alberta is a state: "staten Alberta er også 100 år." That is wrong. Alberta is a province in Canada, not a state. Canada does not have and has never had states. The internal divisions in Canada are called provinces and have been called provinces since Canada became a Royal Province of France in 1663. Why would a Norwegian journalist use the wrong term to describe a province in Canada, when the Norwegian word for province is provins? In the second mistake, the Norwegian journalist writes: "til nasjonalparken Bans på fredag" - the mistake here is that the name of this Canadian national park is Banff National Park. An e-mail was sent to the journalist outlining the two mistake, but a reply was never received, and no correction to the two mistakes has never been made. Why do Norwegian journalists so often write delstaten or staten to describe Canadian provinces? In addition, why does this happen with Canada in the Norwegian press, yet it does not happen with other countries in the world that also have provinces - like China, Sri-Lanka, Afghanistan, etc.? Is it because many Norwegian journalists just assume or guess that because of Canada's geographic location in North America (sharing North America with Mexico and the USA) that we must have states as well? Mexico and the USA are the only two countries in North America with states. Why does such a basic political-geographic feature get so misquoted in the Norwegian press so often?
4) I fyr og flamme (Adressa - Author unknown) 29 July 2004
In this story about the Canadian province of Alberta celebrating its 100th anniversary as a province in 2005, there are two mistakes. The journalist writes that Alberta is a state: "staten Alberta er også 100 år." That is wrong. Alberta is a province in Canada, not a state. Canada does not have and has never had states. The internal divisions in Canada are called provinces and have been called provinces since Canada became a Royal Province of France in 1663. Why would a Norwegian journalist use the wrong term to describe a province in Canada, when the Norwegian word for province is provins? In the second mistake, the Norwegian journalist writes: "til nasjonalparken Bans på fredag" - the mistake here is that the name of this Canadian national park is Banff National Park. An e-mail was sent to the journalist outlining the two mistake, but a reply was never received, and no correction to the two mistakes has never been made. Why do Norwegian journalists so often write delstaten or staten to describe Canadian provinces? In addition, why does this happen with Canada in the Norwegian press, yet it does not happen with other countries in the world that also have provinces - like China, Sri-Lanka, Afghanistan, etc.? Is it because many Norwegian journalists just assume or guess that because of Canada's geographic location in North America (sharing North America with Mexico and the USA) that we must have states as well? Mexico and the USA are the only two countries in North America with states. Why does such a basic political-geographic feature get so misquoted in the Norwegian press so often?
4) I fyr og flamme (Adressa - Author unknown) 29 July 2004
http://www.adressa.no/kultur/musikk/article10861.ece
In this article about Canadian Cirque du Soleil the journalist writes: "Cirque du Solleil, ble dannet av artister fra Montreal i Frankrike." The Cirque du Soleil is Canadian, and more specifically from the province du Québec in Canada, not from France. Canada's Ville de Montréal is the second largest French speaking city in the world after Paris, and is located in Canada, not in France. Why would this story say it is in France? A guess? An assumption? Many Norwegian journalists may be surprised that Canada is a French and English speaking country, with about 1/3 of Canadians being French speaking Canadians, more than double Norway's population. Second, the name is spelt "Cirque du Soleil" not "Cirque du Solleil" as written in the story. An e-mail was sent to Adressavsien, but no reply was received, and no correction was made.
5) Alkolås på alle tjenestebiler (By NTB) 26 September 2006
In this article about Canadian Cirque du Soleil the journalist writes: "Cirque du Solleil, ble dannet av artister fra Montreal i Frankrike." The Cirque du Soleil is Canadian, and more specifically from the province du Québec in Canada, not from France. Canada's Ville de Montréal is the second largest French speaking city in the world after Paris, and is located in Canada, not in France. Why would this story say it is in France? A guess? An assumption? Many Norwegian journalists may be surprised that Canada is a French and English speaking country, with about 1/3 of Canadians being French speaking Canadians, more than double Norway's population. Second, the name is spelt "Cirque du Soleil" not "Cirque du Solleil" as written in the story. An e-mail was sent to Adressavsien, but no reply was received, and no correction was made.
5) Alkolås på alle tjenestebiler (By NTB) 26 September 2006
http://www.adressa.no/forbruker/bil/article726262.eceIn this story written by NTB and posted by Adressavisen it states: "I dag brukes alkolås i privatbiler i Sverige og i delstater i USA og Canada. I Sverige..." There are no states in Canada. To be correct regarding Canada, the sentence should say: "...delstater i USA og provinsene i Canada." Canada has never had states and has been using provinces since 1663 when Canada became a Royal Province of France. Why would an NTB journalist write we have states in Canada when we have provinces? Why would NTB use an American term in reference to Canada? NTB has been informed of this mistake several times by Norwegian Media Watch, yet these mistakes continue to happen in NTB stories. If NTB and Adressavisen can correctly identify the provinces in China, Afghanistan, and other countries in their stories, why can they not correctly identify provinces in Canada?
6) Ekstrem høstvarme i USA (By TORSTEN HANSSEN) 24 October 2007
6) Ekstrem høstvarme i USA (By TORSTEN HANSSEN) 24 October 2007
http://www.adressa.no/vaeret/article965687.eceIn this story the Norwegian journalists writes in the title of the story: "Ekstrem høstvarme i USA." This is an excellent example of home some in the Norwegian press takes a North America focused story (from the BBC) and makes the heading about the extreme weather in USA. The original BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/news/23102007news.shtml heading for this story states: "Exceptional warmth in North America soon to end by Nina Ridge". The original story is about recent extreme weather in the USA and Canada, and yet, the Norwegian journalist changes the heading to be about extreme weather in the USA. Despite the fact, the BBC writes the story to be North America focused, the Norwegian journalists changes the title to be USA focused. The Norwegian journalist does include information about Canada in the story from the BBC story, but why is just the USA focused in the heading? Why does Canada get deleted from the heading content when the story has just as much to do with Canada as the USA? If the BBC and other foreign media can keep the Canadian content in the heading, why can't some in the Norwegian press? Why does Canada so often get excluded in the Norwegian press or get dumped under some USA heading? In addition, the BBC story accurately quotes the Canadian government's environmental agency " Environment Canada", but in this story they are reported as "Canadiske meteorologer"? There is nothing technically wrong with this, but if the British can figure out what Environment Canada is, can't the Norwegian reader? I am sure if the Canadian press wrote a story stating Norway's Ministry of the Environment, Canadians could figure it out. The sad part of seeing stories like this in the Norwegian press is the extent of the Canadian content in the story, but the often exclusion of Canada from the headline. Sad, when much of the story is about Canada that we just get dumped under a USA headline. Canada is not in the USA last time I looked. If the BBC makes the effort why can't some in the Norwegian press? In addition, where the journalist writes: "14 grader varmere enn normalt Normaltemperaturen for slutten av oktober er 12 grader." is vague. In the original BBC story they are talking specifically about the Canadian city of Toronto, some 400 plus kilometres south of Montreal. The Norwegian story makes no mention of this. The story was promptly corrected to read North America.
7) I Vancouver løper alle (By TERJE ANDERSEN) 31 October 2007
7) I Vancouver løper alle (By TERJE ANDERSEN) 31 October 2007
http://www.adressa.no/forbruker/reiseliv/article970372.eceThis is one of the better stories written about a Canadian city in the Norwegian press. The reality is that travel/tourism stories about Canada and Canadian cities are not too common in the Norwegian press in relation to coverage the Norwegian press gives to other cities in the U.K., Australia, the USA, and some others. Canada, it seems, is not too exciting to cover. This story is for the most part correct, but there are a couple of mistakes. First, the Norwegian journalist writes: "...spleiselag mellom byen Vancouver, delstaten British Columbia, store sponsorer og Vancouvers 2,5 millioner innbyggere." British Columbia is a province in Canada, not a state as the journalist has written. Canada uses the French system of provinces since Canada became a Royal Province of France in 1663. British Columbia was a British colony that chose to join Canada as a new province in 1871, under the Canadian flag and Canadian Monarchy. It almost seems incredible to actually write such a detailed story about Vancouver, British Columbia, and actually travel to the province and not list it by its proper name - province. The Norwegian word for province is "provins." Mexico and the USA are the only two countries in North America with states. It seems many in the Norwegian press consistently and accurately uses the term provinces in their media coverage about China, Afghanistan, Sri-Lanka, and other countries with provinces, but it seems many Norwegian journalists are confused (or either assume or guess) if Canada has provinces. Second, the Canada's national police force the Gendarmerie royale du Canada / Royal Canadian Mounted Police are listed as "Canadas ridende politi." The full name in Norwegian is: "kongelige kanadiske ridende politi". Third, George Vancouver was exploring the Northwest coastline of North America's coast, not just the "American" coastline. He writes: "kartlegge den nordvestlige kysten av det amerikanske fastlandet." The city of Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and other areas on and close to the Canadian coast are not located on the USA's coastline, but in Canada. Vancouver was exploring the "North American" coastline. After e-mailing the journalist he change "state" to province.
8) Ny start for Placebo (NTB) 3 June 2009
http://www.adressa.no/kultur/musikk/article1333500.ece
"Som produsent valgte Molko og Olsdal nok en nordamerikaner, nemlig Dave Bottrill – kjent fra sitt arbeid med Tool. Albumet ble spilt inn i hans studio i Toronto."
8) Ny start for Placebo (NTB) 3 June 2009
http://www.adressa.no/kultur/musikk/article1333500.ece
"Som produsent valgte Molko og Olsdal nok en nordamerikaner, nemlig Dave Bottrill – kjent fra sitt arbeid med Tool. Albumet ble spilt inn i hans studio i Toronto."
9) Orkanbølger traff Canada (TORSTEN HANSSEN) 24 August, 2009
In this story the Norwegian journalists writes: "Peggys Cove i den kanadiske provinsen Bova Scotia søndag" and "provinsen NewFoundland i Canada." The Canadian province of "Bova Scotia" is actually called Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland is spelt "Newfoundland."
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