Right NEast/Wrong NEast: Action News typo makes all the difference

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

By Shannon McDonald

Sure, reporters in a rush to get stories out often make small mistakes. This mistake involves only four letters, but makes a huge difference geographically and culturally.

A story from Action News this morning, which followed up on the death of a PHA carpenter who was shot on the job last month, reported that the shooting took place in Northeast Philadelphia. The story’s lede reads:

NORTH PHILADELPHIA – July 28, 2009 (WPVI) — A worker for the Philadelphia Housing Authority has died after a shooting last month in Northeast Philadelphia.

Given that the dateline says North Philadelphia – the true location of the shooting – it seems the reference to the Northeast is the result of a reporter’s haste – which says more about the station’s editing abilities than its geography skills. But still, we at NEastPhilly vow to point out even the tiniest of mistakes in an effort to do the Northeast proud. Sorry, Action News, it had to be done.

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: ABC makes Conwell Avenue smaller

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

By Shannon McDonald

In its report about an early morning car accident on Roosevelt Boulevard Sunday, Action News said the crash took place in the northbound lanes near Conwell Street.

Conwell Avenue runs from Haldeman Avenue, where it turns into Conway Avenue at a small housing development, and Roosevelt Boulevard, where it forms a t-intersection at Swenson Park. There is no Conwell Street. Maybe the crew was too busy taking photos of the wreck to check the street sign.

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: where does Bridesburg belong, anyway?

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

By Shannon McDonald

This could cause some arguments, but Bridesburg is not in the Northeast. Some will tell you the Frankford Creek is the dividing line of the Northeast, others say Bridge Street, other still, extend our borders even farther.

As did the Inquirer in a story about locals’ experiences with World Team Tennis earlier this week. Sports writer Rick O’Brien and editors lumped Bridesburg in with the Northeast.

At NEasPhilly, we do not include Bridesburg in our coverage, which most readers – and people from Bridesburg – tend to agree with. We won’t give the Inquirer too much heat for this one, but we had to at least mention the mistake.

What do you think? Is Bridesburg part of the NEast?

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: Holier-than-thou Philebrity can’t find our borders

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

By Shannon McDonald

We know by now Philebrity hates The NEast. And if snarky comments about our hair weren’t enough, there are these lovely remarks:

Oh come on. Look at a map. H-Valley is bordered by Welsh Rd. and Red Lion Road. It may have a different zip or pizza pretzel place but it’s culturally Norfeast.

I’ve always been of the mind that the Norfeast itself is NOT PHILADELPHIA, either

Those comments came from one of yesterday’s Philebrity posts, which called out Valley Swim Club for kicking out a group of black summer camps kids. Racist and ridiculous, yes. Northeast Philly? Nope, sorry. Valley Swim Club is in Huntingdon Valley, which is not only not Northeast, it’s not Philadelphia.

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: FOX almost gets it right

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

By Shannon McDonald

The McDonald’s on Oxford Avenue was robbed Sunday, making it the fifth stop for a group of serial robbers targeting the fast food chain.

In the report, FOX29 says the restaurant is in Oxford Circle. It’s an awfully close call, seeing as how McDonald’s is on Oxford Circle, but it’s still on the east side of Roosevelt Boulevard. Which means, of course, the robbers hit a Frankford McDonald’s.

A close call, but the maps don’t lie. Frankford is east of the Boulevard and Oxford Cirle is west; a whole ‘nother world.

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: Northeast car accident happend in four different spots

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

By Shannon McDonald

The city’s larger media outlets could not agree this weekend when a speeding driver injured two police officers early Sunday morning.

The accident happened around 1 a.m. on the 4200-block of Aramingo Avenue. That’s about all the reporters can agree on.

Action News put a Port Richmond label on the scene, but the accident occurred above the I-95 ramp. Reporters at FOX29 will only say the incident took place on Aramingo Avenue – no neighborhood, or even an intersection. NBC10 initially reported the accident in Frankford, but the story has since been removed.

The most obvious error came from the Inquirer, which stated the accident happened in the Bridesburg section of Northeast Philadelphia. There’s been a debate over this for decades, but Bridesburg is not in the NEast.

Not only are all these reporters getting it wrong, they can’t even agree on how to do it.

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: there’s nothing Northeast about Hunting Park

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

By Shannon McDonald

In perhaps the biggest, most obvious case of mistaken identity Action News has had, reporter Erin O’Hearn and the editors over at Channel 6 labeled Hunting Park as a Northeast neighborhood.

In it’s coverage of a stranger who offered to pay for surgery for a family’s dog, the news station used the North Philadelphia neighborhood as a dateline, followed immediately by a mention of the Northeast. One look at this map is proof that Hunting Park is not in the NEast.

We’re happy for the family who’s dog is being helped, but they’re probably just as annoyedas we are about their neighborhood being included in the Northeast.

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: Passmore Street, not Avenue

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

By Shannon McDonald

In its report about two separate shootings Thursday night, CBS3 slipped up. When detailing the death of 29-year-old Hasan McKinney, CBS3 reported he died on the 1100-block of Passmore Avenue. Unfortunately for the news channel (and more unfortunately for The NEast), the tiny, one-way block McKinney died on is a Street.

Looks as though CBS3 is satisfied enough with just covering the Northeast – doing it accurately is something else entirely.

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: Inquirer puts Kensington juvenile rape case in Northeast

By Christopher Wink

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

Northeast Philadelphia is not within walking distance of K&A.

But in the Inquirer’s initial report about the alleged rape of an 11-year-old on the 2000-block of East Westmoreland Street, a stone’s throw from Kensington and Allegheny avenues, the headline read: “11-year old raped in Northeast; suspect sought.”

That’s how you know when reporters and editors have no connection to our part of the city. A headline like that can be harmful, but at least most others got it right.

• KYW News Radio 1060 knew it was Kensington
• Metro knew it was Kensington
• Even TV nailed it; Fox29 got it right and called it Kensington

We will say that the full Inquirer story corrected the mistake and called it Kensington, but the initial headline remains.

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: CBS thinks Oxford Circle is east of the Boulevard

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

This is a frequent mistake, but unforgivable, regardless. Saturday’s two-car crash that injured nine people happened at Penn Street and Cheltenham Avenue, an intersection that could arguably be Frankford or Northwood.

But it’s definitely not Oxford Circle, as CBS3 reported, because that neighborhood is west of Roosevelt Boulevard.