Citizen ‘journalism’ ran amok in Boston crisis

With an entire city on lockdown and the whole world watching, crowd reporting on the drama in Boston last week reached critical mass. Now, we are facing a critical mess. 

Armed with iPhones, empowered by Twitter and amplified by the high-tech witch hunt known as Reddit, perhaps more self-appointed citizen “journalists” than ever broadcast whatever came to mind in an instant, unencumbered by such

King's Day? Huh?

That is going to take some getting used to. And how dare the incoming king move Queen's Day! For as  long as I have been in the Netherlands the 30th of April has been Queen's Day. And now suddenly, in 2013, we are on the verge of celebrating the last Queen's Day for some time to come. If the current reign is anything to go by I'll be in my seventies by the time I see Queen's Day again. I'm not even going to think about that.

So it's time to start getting used to the idea that Queen's Day will be King's Day in 2014. And instead of the 30th April we will celebrate it on the 27th April. Which by my calculation will mean that King's Day will fall on a Sunday next year. Which means no day off for anyone. Not a good start your majesty......

What will you be doing to mark the last Queen's day on the 30th? Do you plan to watch the coronation? Where will you be celebrating?

The Iron Lady

Margaret Thatcher has managed to be as controversial in her passing as during her time as prime minister. Her death also reminded me of a very common language mistake the Dutch make when they speak English, that being the pronunciation of the word iron. It's not a word that you need to use very often in a second language but with the media full of "The Iron Lady" it is a word that is being flung around on every TV news channel in the Netherlands.

The Dutch say "I - RON". In English it is pronounced "IYUN". Obviously I can see why non-natives wouldn't say it right. How we English say it has no actual relation to how it is spelt. But that is the way it is.

For years I have battled with my Dutch husband to get him to say iron the right way. It's been tough. And now everywhere I turn I hear "I - RON". The pinnacle was when I heard Sacha de Boer say "iron lady" in a way only the Dutch can.

So, it's not logical, or phonetic. But it is how it's said. I can only imagine there is a herd of English teachers in Dutch schools spreading this mispronunciation on a nationwide basis, from generation to generation. It's our job, as English native speakers, to give the word iron its dignity back. "IYUN". Shout it out - IYUN.

I know there are lots of words that don't make sense in the English language. I also know my pronunciation of some Dutch words leaves a lot to be desired but the thing about the word iron is that it is said wrong on a nationwide scale. How can that be? Where does this pronunciation come from in the Netherlands? I have one thing left to say - "IYUN".

Right, I'm off to start battling with Sacha de Boer.....

Are there other words that are misspoken on a national basis? Are there notorious words in other languages that are mispronounced by other nations? 

Why paywalls are scary

The case for paywalls would seem to be compelling:  Stanch the decline in print circulation, get paid for producing valuable local content and tap into a fresh source of sorely needed revenue at a time advertising sales continue to shrink.  

All good?  Not necessarily. The reason to worry about paywalls is that they severely limit the prospects of developing a wider audience for newspapers at a

Newspaper ad sales skid for seventh straight year

Advertising sales, the predominant revenue stream for the newspaper industry, dropped for the seventh year in a row in 2012, falling to less than half the record $49.4 billion achieved as recently as 2005.

More on that in a moment.  But first, let’s put things in perspective by comparing the meteoric rise of Google, the definitive digital media company, with the epic collapse that has cut the