Rotten Reuters Reporting

The last train Reuters reporter Nick Carey saw was in a John Wayne western:

By Nick Carey

CHICAGO (Reuters) - If asked to close their eyes and think of a locomotive, chances are many people would conjure up the image of a noisy behemoth belching black smoke -- hardly the picture of an environmentally friendly industry.

Yet being a "green" transportation alternative to trucks is just what U.S. railroads are turning to as a marketing tool.

Note to Nick: trains don't belch black smoke any more than cars look like this:

Computers look like this:

And airliners look this:


File this under "Reporter assumes readers are as uninformed as him."

Here is how the story should lead:

CHICAGO (Reuters) -- U.S. railroads have begun marketing themselves as a green transportation alternative to the nation's trucking industry.

Simple and not insulting to the intelligence of the reader.