07 novembre 2011

Random Factoid 4 : Cannes, Spain?

CNN believes Cannes is in Spain...


Not only they placed Cannes 1200km off, but it's even outside of France, in Spain, on the wrong side of the land mass, on the Atlantic coast instead of the Mediterranean coast! WTF? I know the average American sucks in geography, so says the stereotype, but shouldn't people working in a major News network get screened for basic knowledge?
Cannes is a small town (less than 100,000 inhabitants), so it's not a big deal not knowing every cities of that size in the world. Except that its reputation exceeds the limited population and the territory of France. Cannes just happens to be the recurrent location of a film festival of international fame, for the past 65 years! Which is in the news even in the USA, even on CNN... although not as much as it should. And if the G20 is in France, it would be a good idea to look up where France is in Europe... I mean, how many people work in CNN and didn't even double check what goes on the air?
Especially in this day and age, where it takes less than 5 seconds to check basic facts online, or to use the real Google Earth. Sometimes "the internet" is wrong, but with a bit of cross-checking on several reliable websites, it would be difficult to make a huge mistake like this one for such a general well known information.
CNN confirms one more time that Americans don't give a shit when it happens outside of the motherland. How can you inspire the uneducated part of the American population to improve their general culture, and world culture in particular, when their official institutions, their intelligentsia, their leaders, their media don't show they care about their own blind spots and failing culture??? If CNN doesn't make an effort, why would the average American? That's how you raise the bar of the average culture, through exemplary conduct and higher standards to aspire to... not by spreading misinformation on a mass scale or spiting on vegetables...
Let's note that the wrong red dot they display on their map, in Spain, is in fact Gijón (Galicia region), which happens to host another international film festival (established in 1963). Only the wrong festival. Oh, irony...


They need to hire a resident geographer at CNN! For a "leading" News channel which business is to deal with international affairs, and locating wars, G20 summits or Film Festivals is kinda your daily bread.

In 2005, to cover the unrest setting ablaze several cities in France CNN produced a ludicrous map, supposedly lifted from "Google Earth" (which is more accurate than that), where none of the cities are located right, and half of them end up outside France. Paris is 100km East (of where it should be). Lyon is 300km West. Lille is not a coastal port (100km off). Rennes is 100km East. Cannes is 300km West. Strasbourg is in Austria (100km East), and Toulouse is in Switzerland (800km off). WTF? At this point they're just throwing darts in the dark without caring a damn...


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