Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

Again #Newsquest is adding random #crime reports from other areas amongst local ones.

If you are not paying attention or click through or just skimming the headlines, it would be very easy to assume the murder happened in #Clacton / #Harwich #Felixstowe / or even #Southwold or #Aldeburgh (these last two "posh" places still sometimes have problems with youth #violence )

(the incident occured in #Scotland - a very long distance from #Suffolk or #Essex )

It might drive traffic to the news site, but Maybe #Ofcom needs to intervene here and discourage this kind of headline aggregation - all it does is increase fear of #crime in the local area..

May 30, 2025 at 5:19pmWeb
Show threadMike 🇬🇧 🇪🇺May 30, 2025
@vfrmedia
It happens everywhere as far as I can tell.
It's the Reach group presumably desparate for clicks.
They've destroyed local newspapers and are doing their best to destroy journalism.
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 30, 2025
@MikeFromLFE in this case its Newsquest, although Reach were the first ones to do it (it seemed like they have a certain quote for crime stories, so if there aren't enough they get them from other areas, so it wasn't as immediately obvious in Reach sites for Essex and London which are areas with relatively high crime levels)
Show threadMike 🇬🇧 🇪🇺May 30, 2025
@vfrmedia Ah - I've not heard of Newsquest. Presumably they haven't wormed their way into the Midlands yet.
Leicester gets Birmingham, Nottingham and Liverpool news inserted in a similar way.
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 30, 2025

@MikeFromLFE Newsquest (which took over Archant in East Anglia) doesn't seem to have as much prominence in the Midlands compared to Reach although they have a lot of titles in the North and Scotland.

I'm not even put off by reading crime news, I just think its more honest/ethical to confine it to the local website for where it happened *unless* its a major incident of national interest with a very high casualty figure (such as the vehicle being used as a weapon in Liverpool)

Show threadFeralRobotsMay 30, 2025
@vfrmedia creates a false impression of violence.