Media screws up again...

"Bill Denton" wrote in message
...

Think of everyone you know, and what their job is. There is no way a
journalist, or anyone else, can be an expert in all of those fields.

Your beeper goes off at 3:00 AM, drive 50 miles into the middle of
nowhere,
and there's your story. You don't have the slightest idea what you are
looking at, and there are no experts around to explain it. And what does a
real journalist do? He/she looks at the camera and says:

"I am standing in front of a vast crater, approximately one mile across. I
cannot determine how deep it is, some type of smoke is wafting up from the
bottom. The crater is surrounded by large, unidentifiable, torn and broken
pieces of metal, each about four to five feet long and two or three feet
thick."

That's how the pros do it. You don't need to know anything about it to
report it, as long as you stick to what you observe with your senses. If
you
know something about the story, put that information in, but only what you
actually know. And keep your BS detector on high; possessing a uniform
doesn't make someone an expert, neither does possessing a degree.


Exactly. A good journalist stands in place of your eyes and ears and
describes the scene or event, unemotionally, because you can't be there.
But good journalism doesn't sell newspapers or win awards.

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message

Exactly. A good journalist stands in place of your eyes and ears and
describes the scene or event, unemotionally, because you can't be there.

....and has to deal with clueless flaks who know jack squat about what
journalists have to do in order to get that information, and even if they do
report well, be assured there are plenty of know-it-alls out there to
correct them and trash talk them anyway.

But good journalism doesn't sell newspapers or win awards.

Sure thing, Professor.

-c

"gatt" wrote in message
...

...and has to deal with clueless flaks who know jack squat about what
journalists have to do in order to get that information, and even if they
do
report well, be assured there are plenty of know-it-alls out there to
correct them and trash talk them anyway.


You just don't get it.

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message

You just don't get it.

You simply have not displayed a single qualification to say, with any
authority, what I do or do not get. Your opinion here is worth nothing.

-c

"gatt" wrote in message
...

You simply have not displayed a single qualification to say, with any
authority, what I do or do not get. Your opinion here is worth nothing.


I didn't attend a journalism school. You did. That makes me more qualified
than you.

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
ink.net...

"gatt" wrote in message
...

You simply have not displayed a single qualification to say, with any
authority, what I do or do not get. Your opinion here is worth nothing.


I didn't attend a journalism school. You did. That makes me more
qualified
than you.

Tom Sowell makes a similar point about teachers and the schools of education
:~)

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message

You simply have not displayed a single qualification to say, with any
authority, what I do or do not get. Your opinion here is worth nothing.

I didn't attend a journalism school. You did. That makes me more
qualified
than you.

That's awesome. "I'm uneducated so I know more than you do." Wow...just
think of how much smarter you'd be if you never learned to read at all.

I bet you'd fly better if you'd never taken lessons. That's assuming, of
course, that you actually fly at all. Welcome to my killfile.

-c

"gatt" wrote in message
...

That's awesome. "I'm uneducated so I know more than you do." Wow...just
think of how much smarter you'd be if you never learned to read at all.


You consider someone that hasn't attended journalism school to be
uneducated? How arrogant! You've just illustrated the primary problem with
journalism today.

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
ink.net...

"gatt" wrote in message
...

...and has to deal with clueless flaks who know jack squat about what
journalists have to do in order to get that information, and even if
they
do
report well, be assured there are plenty of know-it-alls out there to
correct them and trash talk them anyway.


You just don't get it.

'Course not...he's only a journalist.