Have you ??? My father was a newspaperman for the first 15 years of my life, and quite a few before I was born. He worked hard to get the story straight, to not embellish and to not use his position to further anyone’s agenda. He told the story. He put his life at risk to expose the Mob in Ohio in the 1950’s and helped gather proof that put some really awful people behind bars. He enlightened people, he gave them facts and background, he provided articulation where it was badly needed. He travelled all over the world covering stories.
Idiot, you say?
I know it’s frowned upon to say this in the OP Title these days in The Pit, so here you go:
Fuck you, you narrowminded media hating cocksucker. Fuck you for assuming reporters are idiots, fuck you for painting with a huge dripping broad brush.
Tell us of your first-hand experiences with reporters. Tell us how many were idiots. DEFINE idiot.
Yeah, I think even the OP will admit, that in recent years reporters have gone off “half cocked” and posted information as factual, that wasn’t fact checked at an alarming, and infuriating rate. (Though newspapers did have political type agendas even in the good old days. Rockefellers, Yellow Journalism and the like.) While the attitude could be all encompassing, it might not be. Let’s see if Auquil Be “gets” your point or not before fully roasting them.
Seriously, there are some great reporters who represent the Fifth Estate with nobility and integrity - and many very, very unscrupulous and stupid reporters out there. Sadly for every Bernstein, Woodward and Alan Johnston out there, there are about 100 assholes.
I have had occasion to have first hand knowledge of something printed in my local newspaper four or five times in my life, and in not one single instance was the information printed even close to what was really the case. Names, addresses, ages and descriptions of events were so inaccurate that I came to feel that I really couldn’t rely on anything I read in the paper to be correct.
I’ve also encountered such reporters. But to generalize and suggest that all reporters are morons is to marginalize the ones who get it right and are good at their craft.
During my journalistic “career” my editor once had to print 16 - count them, sixteen - retractions for one of my stories. What can I say? The guy had a Chinese accent and was rattling stuff off over the phone, and I don’t do shorthand. Nor could I fact-check. And he lied about a few things and used my actual errors as leverage to retract. Shit like that happens all the time.
I agree, though I would suggest that it is the prevalence of sloppy/inaccurate/manipulative reporting that actually marginalizes the ones who get it right and are good at their craft. How are we, as readers/watchers of the news, supposed to know who is working hard and striving to get it right? We can only go by what we see, and if what we see is almost invariably inaccurate and/or manipulative, that is how those who report it will be viewed despite the occasional (and unrecognized) reporter who may indeed be a person of integrity. This is precisely why accuracy and impartiality is so important in journalism.
So did Dad. And, Czarcasm, he retired as a newspaperman in 1972. ( A fact I didn’t mention in my rant. ) Not hardly 50 years ago. After that, he went into government work as a Public Affairs Officer for an agency. So instead of interpreting badly written Press Releases, he jumped to the other side and wrote press releases that were pre-printable as science stories. He retired from that less than 10 years ago. So, his hand never left quality writing from the early 1950’s until 2000.
Look, I’m perfectly aware that the media has it’s fair share of n’er do wells. The phrasing of the quote that promoted this Pitting implies that reporters are idiots. Fortunately, this isn’t Great Debates and I don’t have to provide a fuckload of cite proving that I am irrefutably right and she/he is irrefutably wrong.
I read it, I disliked the statement immensely, I ranted.
Aquila Be said similar things in at least one other thread. What can you say? Obviously we’re just not smart enough to reach his or her towering intellectual standards.
My father was a reporter, documentarist, and radio producer from my birth until his death. During this time he served his profession with great distinction, earning numerous professional and human rights awards for his coverage of such stories as the radiation deaths of the Dené people of Déline, NWT; the reconciliation ceremonies of the Dené and Inuit peoples of the NWT; the Congolese civil war; the war in Afghanistan; and exposing the increased rates of brain cancer deaths in firefighters.
Other stories he covered included the insurgency in northern Uganda; the Canadian-caused poisoning of the Essequibo River in Guyana; the destruction of Montserrat; the American presidential election in 1992; the Oklahoma City bombings; Hurricanes Isabel and Floyd; the Winnipeg floods of 1996 and the ice storm of 1998; and innumerable other stories and documentaries of national and international import. Besides his renowned coverage of natural disasters, he was also known for his human rights coverage, especially regarding the situation of Aboriginal peoples in Canada.
He was a truly honourable journalist, a humanitarian and public servant who was an ornament to his profession and whose dedication and devotion to the truth and the public intelligence were beyond reproach.
I doubt this will impress Aquila Be, but I couldn’t let it go by without comment.
Yes, but going further, about what profession can this not be said?
Police officers: Many are honorable people who serve responsibly with distinction and who make enormous personal sacrifices in the name of public good. Others are shaved gorillas who would cheerfully misuse their power to crush a hippie’s skull if only they could avoid the paperwork and the consequences.
Surgeons: Many are honorable people who pay attention to their patients and who take personal interest in their clients’ well-being. Others are God-complex assholes who think their skills at staving off illness and death make them vastly superior beings compared to the rest of us.
Lawyers: Many are honorable people who listen to their clients and who make an honest effort to guide them safely through the legal labyrinth, and who put in long, long hours to make certain the people they represent get the best effort and expertise they can give. Others are liars and parasites who pad their billable hours and puff up their clients’ beliefs about their unwinnable cases in order to drag out proceedings for yet another lucrative week or month or year.
And on, and on. Hey, how about your profession. You, the reader. Whoever you are. Whatever it is you do, some of the people in your line of work are really good, and role models for others; and at the same time, some of them are lazy, infuriating dickholes. This says nothing whatsoever about <fill in the name of the profession>. It is human fucking nature.
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