# Painfully dumb reporting

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painfully-dumb-reporting/789132>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 16, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painfully-dumb-reporting/789132 "2017-06-16T17:53:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painfully-dumb-reporting/789132/1 "2017-06-16T17:53:59Z")

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Sadly, there appear to have been several drownings off the New Jersey coast, attributed to rip currents.

This gem of a line appeared in the ABC news story:

_"The Press of Atlantic City reports one of the still-unidentified swimmers was trying to rescue 15-year-old Kalia Spence, but both were pulled under the water by the current._

[http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/rip-currents-leave-dead-missing-jersey-shore-48082494?cid=clicksource\_4380645\_1\_hero\_headlines\_headlines\_hed](http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/rip-currents-leave-dead-missing-jersey-shore-48082494?cid=clicksource_4380645_1_hero_headlines_headlines_hed)

Rip currents can rapidly draw swimmers away from shore and they may drown if they try to fight the current as opposed to swimming parallel to the shoreline until they’re out of the path of the rip, but they are **not** “pulled under”.

There goes a blown chance at educating readers about what to do if they’re caught in a rip current.

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**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painfully-dumb-reporting/789132/2 "2017-06-16T18:23:06Z")

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To most land-lubbers riptide and rip current are the same thing: evil water that will swallowe you alive.