✍️✍️ Job Deadlines ✍️✍️ — September 16

Hilarious Queen virtue signalling plus deadlines at the Associated Press, BBC, Channel 4, DublinLive, Euractiv, The Guardian, AFP, Amnesty, STV, University of Toronto and the Washington Post

Sep 16, 2022

Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Inside The Newsroom! The airwaves here in the UK have continued to be dominated by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and the accession of King Charles III. The 10-day official mourning period ends after Monday’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.

I’ve generally buried my head in the sand from the wall-to-wall coverage, but the few times I’ve checked in, I’m reminded of the fascinating ways some have handled the news. The Guardian’s Esther Addley and Nicola Davis wrote a super interesting piece on the behavioral science behind grief and what this past week of mourning might evoke in people. Some of the reasons why people felt so close to QEII are rather touching, others simply want to respect such a historic moment.

Some responses, though, have been nothing but ridiculous and hilarious. Look no further than some UK businesses who had a complete nightmare. British Cycling admitted it “got this one wrong” for telling people they shouldn’t cycle during the Queen’s funeral out of respect. And Norwich City Council closed a pair of cycle racks initially without any explanation or context…

Jeremy Hutchinson @Themightyhutch

Because of the royal period of mourning, you can’t lock your bike to a cycle rack in Norwich.

Elsewhere, the UK Met Office’s social team got itself in a right pickle by announcing it would only post daily forecasts and warnings as a “mark of respect”. Then it completely butchered its explanation of why it felt the need to inform the public of its social media strategy…

Met Office @metoffice

We are saddened by the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Our thoughts are with her family and all those affected by this news. As a mark of respect during this time of national mourning we will only be posting daily forecasts and warnings.

Met Office @metoffice

The use of the word 'daily' in our earlier Tweet may have given the false impression that we’ll only be posting once a day. It was always our intention to continue to provide forecasts and warnings for the days ahead, through Twitter, multiple times a day.

Met Office @metoffice

It is right at this sad time to pause other non-operational content that isn't a forecast or warning, to ensure the public can focus on any potential impactful weather during this period. Apologies for any confusion.

And perhaps the most absurd virtue signal of them all involved Morrisons, who turned down the volume of its beeps at its checkout tills. Several outlets reported the move was made out of respect, but the supermarket insists it was because it switched off music and tannoy announcements in its stores. Make up your own mind.

I’d start a petition on how nonsensical some of these cancellations have been, but I’m unable to because of the UK government’s petition website temporarily being suspended.

In more serious news, Russia’s attempted invasion of Ukraine continues. After 205 days of fighting, we’ll look at the latest on the ground on Monday.

Check out this past Monday’s jobs update where we added another round of hundreds of jobs at the likes of AFP, Apple, BBC, CBS, El País, ESPN, Euractiv, Guardian, ITV , Nat Geo, NewsNation, NHL, Reuters, Scripps, SELF, The New Yorker, WBAL, WIRED and hundreds more.

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