David Konig

Get Ready To Ride The Vomit Rocket If You Read JEMS.com

Posted by David at 6 October, 2009, 8:00 am

Yesterday I cited a report from the Associated Press about Oklahoma Trooper Daniel Martin being placed on administrative leave for excessive force… again. I know this is no surprise to those who followed the original incident between Paramedic Maurice White and Trooper Martin, but it’s a pretty big news story due to the sever incompetence of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to deal with the matter appropriately the first time.

Speaking of incompetence… JEMS.com decided to deliver the exact same story:
JEMS_Calls_EMTs_and_Paramedics_Ambulance_Drivers

In fact, while they did attribute the story to both KWTV-TV and the Associated Press, what they failed to do was change the term ambulance driver in the article to something that perhaps would have been more fitting… like oh… I don’t know… maybe Paramedic.

I am not a big fan of automatic news aggregators and this is a perfect example as to why. All JEMS did was regurgitate a story with no original content added and not editing done. While this isn’t the first time they have done this, I think this is certainly the most grievous thus far. Of ALL the media out there, JEMS should be the one not using the term “ambulance driver”. Those words, whether written by the Associated Press or not, should never have hit that page. To allow that to happen is just perpetuating the stereotypes we rail against so regularly and diminishes JEMS ability to do so.

In the words of Steve Berry, “I am not an ambulance driver.”

It’s time that the so called Journal of Emergency Medical Services stops treating us as if that is all we are.

Source: Thanks to Doc Croc for pointing this atrocity out to me

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Related posts:

  1. OK Trooper Daniel Martin On Paid Leave For Excessive Force… Again
  2. OHP Trooper Defended By Apparently Constipated Attorney
  3. Paramedic Maurice White Files Suit Against Trooper Daniel Martin
  4. Trooper Daniel Martin STILL On Paid Leave
  5. Trooper Daniel Martin: Awaiting The Guillott(in)e

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Category : First Responder | News
  • Stefkitty
    How extremely disrespectful.
  • David: We appreciate your advocacy of using correct terminology in news reports. We wanted to clarify, however, that by copyright law, we cannot alter the content owned by another publisher. That means JEMS editors can headlines, because those are not copyrighted material, but we cannot change the body copy. We understand that such terms as "ambulance driver" are incorrect and outdated, but we have made an editorial decision to continue posting news reports that contain these terms because we feel the newsworthiness and timeliness of the content often outweighs these errors.
  • Hey Lisa,

    I do understand that Copyright Law prohibits the alteration of the body of text, but as I said in my post this is exactly why I am not a big fan of automatic news aggregators. The JEMS Editor could have removed the first paragraph and perhaps written an original ending to the piece. Citing copyrighted material does not mean that you have to repeat the entire piece word for word. I would also have to recommend that JEMS make it clearer to the reader that this is a story from an outside source.

    I would also ask that your Editorial Board reconsider the value of posting news reports from outside agencies with this terminology. By doing so it appears that you are in fact condoning the practice.

    Thanks for the feedback.
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