Watching the news this morning having a cuppa and heard the sad news about a motorcyclist being killed on the road to Whitby.  Has anyone noticed, however, that when the media announce the death on most other members of the public they say things like 'Father of two killed whilst driving a truck' or 'Mother of three killed riding a horse'?  It strikes me that the media forget that the people inside those leathers and underneath that helmet are Mothers, Fathers, Sisters etc and are human beings in their own right with feelings and relatives that will mourn them.   It just adds fueld to the fire that motorcyclists are all tarred with the same brush by the media and we are all homocidal, beer swilling rapists who ride everywhere at 100+ mph scaring old people.   Sadly the media don't see bikers doing loads of charity work like toy runs and such like.  Perhaps it's about time they removed their blinkers and saw us bike-riding members of the public for what we are.   Rant, rant, rant!   Sorry, but it does cheese me off sometimes.                                                                                                                                                                             

Gotcha in one bluesboy   im stereotyped all the time as weather permitting i do my rounds on my bike.  I find i have to work twice as hard sometimes to carry "myself" over as many people dont see me, just a biker                                                                                                                                                                             

Yep, sad but true, Blue. Unfortunately it was the hells angels of the 1970s that started the myth that ALL bikers are trouble. (well it was where I lived)  Hence the 'No bikers' notices on most public house doors.     I also notice that when it suits the media they say 'BOY,18yrs old' or '18 yr old MAN' depending on the story.   (off topic, a tadge) Why are airline companies allowed to charge full ADULT fare for people under the age of 18 when, by law, folk aint considered adult til they reach the age of 18.                                                                                                                                                                               

As someone who works in the media, I can only, alas, agree. It's just lazy thinking, the kind of autopilot reporting that decrees all suburbs are 'leafy' and all apartments/flats are 'luxury'. I can think of one journalist, a one-time colleague, whose account of a bank robbery had it that the thieves had escaped on a powerful motorbike. Six paragraphs on, it was revealed as a, shock, horror, 100c Honda. The dull thudding sound is of me banging my head on the desk. This, BTW, was the same young lady who annouced that the bulk carrier Derbyshire had sank in the South China Sea. With the kind of insight that only comes with an English degree and five years of working journalism, she then declared that 'the wreckage is believed to be on the sea bed'. And here was silly me thinking that aliens had spirited it away to Mars! Every now and then you'll come across a newspaper with someone in an influential postition who's a biker, and then you'll get more coverage that understands that bikers are simply people who ride bikes, and not some sort of malignant sub-species to be kept, at best, at arm's length. Lcotgrave, good on yer. But Kwak, tut tut. Most pubs? I actually know more pubs with signs saying 'bikers welcome' than 'no bikers'. And 99 per cent of pubs I know have no sign either way. OK, that's my rant over. Peace and love and I wish I was coming to Matlock on Sunday but I can't.                                                                                                                                                                             

  I meant the notices on the public house doors of the 1970s, not NOW, and you a media bod too, ya should read proper...ly lol                                                                                                                                                                              

Says she.........................................                                                                                                                                                                              

    Shu'p! you lol                                                                                                                                                                              

why don't you write a letter to the bbc or something?  Send them an email from their site.  Say that the members here would like to know why they never portray bikers as good people with families etc.                                                                                                                                                                             

Matt's correct there ...Unless we rant to the media instead of just amongst ourselves..we'll get nowhere? We should(dare i say) b more like the French. When they're miffed, everybody knows about it but they get things done!!!                                                                                                                                                                             

Answer to original question is simple "Clean living nice motorcyclist unfortunately killed" doesn't sell newspapers. "Psychopathic speeding hells angel almost kills family of four" does - even if the car hit him.   Remember you live in a media run propaganda state which fills the bewildered herd with what it wants to hear and distracts it from Real Life with soap operas and Big Brother.   Bikers are bad - Period                                                                                                                                                                             

  PML @ contact the BBC, I emailed 'em some time ago about their lack of DEAF AWARENESS, female newsreaders/presenters who wear lip GLOSS are difficult to lip read as it distorts the mouth patterns, I never received a reply and they're still wearing the lip gloss!!