27
May

MISINFORMATION AND THE MEDIA

   Posted by: Dorothea Preis   in News, Richard III in the Media

Thank you to Judy, who found the article, which sparked this post.

May we suggest to “Telegraph reporters” to do their homework and spend a bit more time proof reading?  In a recent article in the (UK) Telegraph about the find of a boar badge found in October on the Thames foreshore, their reporters inform us that these “badges in the form of the animal were ordered for the king’s cremation in 1485”.  Eh, what?!

King Richard III was not cremated as the recent find of his skeleton proofs beyond doubt.  Even the present reporter goes on to mention this in his article.  Nor is it likely that Henry Tudor, who had just assumed the crown by invading England and fighting Richard at the Battle of Bosworth, where Richard was killed, would order badges of his opponent’s emblem to celebrate his cremation.

So we suspect the reporter meant to say “coronation”.  And that’s where the homework comes in.  As any reference work, even Wikipedia (generally not the most reliable source), could have told them, Richard was crowned on 6 July 1483.  He was killed two years later at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485.

This is an article which deals with a topic of special interest for me and it was easy to spot the mistakes.  However, it makes you wonder how much more misinformation we are fed by our media, either by negligence, as in this case, or on purpose.  Unless we happen to know better, we would take this misinformation as fact.  Quite a scary scenario!

You can find the article here.  It does contain a very good photograph of the boar badge.

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