I think that the Irish Times would have used metres and km/h. When this paper uses news items from other news agents like AP, it sticks to the original text. ----- Original Message ----- From: Ezra Steinberg To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Saturday, 2007, November 10 18:52 Subject: [USMA:39704] State of British and Irish media wrt metrication
Even though the UK is light years ahead of us here in the States when it comes to metrication, it's still said to see something in the press that is such a throwback to something one could have read back in the 1950s. From the Guardian (UK) today: "As Tuesday dawned, the weather forecast eliminated any prospect of a weakening in oil prices. A storm whipping up in the North Sea prompted BP and ConocoPhillips to evacuate staff by helicopter from offshore platforms threatened by 20ft waves and wind gusts of more than 60mph. Oil and gasfields producing 540,000 barrels a day were shut down." No attempt at metric whatsoever ... :-( Makes me wonder if, for instance, the Irish press (e.g. Irish Times) would have reported this same story using metres and km/h instead. Any folks out there familiar with current trends in the Irish print and electronic media in terms of metric usage? Ezra
