Journalists are really starting to piss me off.
There was a story today in one of our papers... it doesn't matter which one or where it was because they're all the same everywhere these days... and it's the sort of journalism that my editor, back in my 'cadet' days, would have thrown me out of his office for.
The headline reads "Police seek naked lawyer's mystery visitor", and the story goes on to describe how a lawyer was found naked and unconscious in his hotel room.
Bloody hell... come around to any hotel room I'm in at 3am and you'll find me naked and unconscious too... that's how I sleep. Actually, that's how most people I know sleep.
Was it the truth? Yes, I suppose it was. He was probably naked, BECAUSE HE WAS ASLEEP you idiot! (Not you... the dumb lazy talentless journalist who wrote the piece.)
It would be like me writing about going to a business meeting or the local supermarket 'fully clothed'. "Man Shops Fully Clothed At Local Supermarket"
There used to be rules in journalism...
First, report only the facts.
Second, report only those facts which are relevant to the story. No. That doesn't mean you leave out the facts that don't work for your story... it means there's no need to say stuff just for the sake of a headline if what you want to say isn't relevant.
Third, check the facts again.
Finally, it's the news. It's not your opinion of the news.
Sadly, none of those rules seems to apply. What do they teach in journalism school these days?
5 comments:
Mr Bear, I didn't know you used to be a bebe journalist, me too!
I think the big change is everybody wants to be a star, the whole it's the news, it's not your opinion of the news, just doesn't seem to be the way anymore - everybody want's to write an opinion piece. I used to drive me nuts back when I was a sub, trying to turn opinion pieces into news - clearly they don't bother anymore. I guess newspapers are like current affairs now - entertainment not information!
woo hoo! a fellow ex journo. i went through back in the 'good ole dayz' before there was such a thing as 'journalism school', when the only training you got was on-the-job training as a cadet, and it was a race to see whether your brain or your liver gave out first.
you're right though... news isn't news, it's entertainment, and the second it became entertainment, it stopped being either believable or useful.
Oddly enough, I have a somewhat related complaint about some attorneys. This is particularly annoying with civil law attorneys. To simplify, they're supposed to gather the facts and adduce evidence, then based on that they make their argument, and the judge decides. Or, judges, if you will. Many attorneys conflate evidence with argument, and say things like, party so-and-so defrauded my client and should be punished? How??? What did they do? Specifically. It's annoying but it does make my life easier, judges don't usually take kindly to being told what they should decide.
My favourite grab from a Ch 10 journo years ago was "the headless man was found lying face down in the ditch".
Que?
He was headless. He was therefore not capable of lying face down in anything.
Sigh.
I agree with each of you. It's all about inflating the most entertaining opinion and swaying others to believe that opinion. How often these days is an argument presented objectively and not subjectively? Rarely.
I could never read an opinion piece and consider it "news". Or watch a current affaris and consider it "factual". It's sad that newsmakers and opinion makers think that people need to be entertained when it comes to information. I just want the facts. To hell with the rest of it - I'm a grown up, capable of making my own decisions & forming my own opinions based on the facts presented.
I need to have a lie down now. It's making me cranky.
lol
lol
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