# The dumbest, sloppiest reporter in all of south Jersey **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 4, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284 "2009-05-04T14:27:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/21 "2009-05-04T19:01:57Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > This is probably a young, inexperienced reporter just getting started in the business. Her editors and copyeditors should be teaching her about skepticism, sourcing, and other things that make you a good reporter. Unfortunately, with newspapers slashing staff like nobody’s business, there are fewer and fewer experienced people around to guide young reporters. Remember, it doesn’t take just one reporter to get a bad story into a newspaper. It takes a whole editorial staff, too. With personnel cuts, whole layers of critical supervision might be missing. I think you’ve got it. The people who should be showing her the ropes are the ones who’ve been fired so they can hire five useless, underpaid j-school gits in their place. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/22 "2009-05-04T19:25:55Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > I think you’ve got it. The people who should be showing her the ropes are the ones who’ve been fired so they can hire five useless, underpaid j-school gits in their place. Not at all. She’s in her 30s and has been with the paper for at least a few years. She’s apparently not a wet-behind-the-ears cub reporter, although I stand by what I said earlier that anyone entering journalism should know some basics. Even if there are staff cuts it doesn’t explain why an editor didn’t kill the story. It looks like she’s an entertainment writer who doesn’t know much of anything about reporting hard news. That’s the problem. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/23 "2009-05-04T20:26:07Z")
Her contact information is listed at the bottom of the “article.” You should let her know how you feel. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/24 "2009-05-04T21:31:31Z")
Reporters are the stupidest idiots to ever walk the earth. Has their ever been one, even a dedicated science reporter, who was _remotely_ qualified? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/25 "2009-05-04T21:51:50Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Has their ever been one, even a dedicated science reporter, who was _remotely_ qualified? No, never ever. That’s why nobody knows anything about science. Not even scientists. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/26 "2009-05-04T22:32:35Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > No, never ever. That’s why nobody knows anything about science. Not even scientists. :rolleyes: I’m not sure what your point is. Scientists don’t learn science from the newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/27 "2009-05-04T23:45:06Z")
For science writing, I’ve yet to be disappointed by the _Economist_. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/28 "2009-05-05T00:54:58Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > For science writing, I’ve yet to be disappointed by the _Economist_. You know, I’ve always liked The Economist. I don’t remember if I’ve read any science articles in it, though. I’ll have to check some out. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/29 "2009-05-05T01:05:20Z")
He didn’t say he’d \*read \*it, just that he was never \*disappointed \*by it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/30 "2009-05-05T01:07:19Z")
Well, they do call economics “the dismal science”. Tough to be disappointed if you know that going in, right? ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/31 "2009-05-05T01:24:13Z")
If a reporter is going to attempt to cover a technically demanding area, said reporter should at least invest in some sort of short course of study in said area. A number of universities with medical schools host mini-medical schools, designed to immerse non-medical people in medical issues. Then again, if you’re pulling the shit as posted in the OP, said “reporter” needs a stint in mini-journalism school. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/32 "2009-05-05T01:45:26Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > He didn’t say he’d \*read \*it, just that he was never \*disappointed \*by it. And I didn’t mean the content was good either – for science writing, the _Economist_ is the best thing to use as backing to write on. 😛 Every week it has a few-page “Science & Technology” section. I find it regularly scoops the daily papers and wider media about upcoming stories (surprising for a weekly), and holds its subjects to the same depth and journalistic standards as the rest of its content. There is also the quarterly technology survey and a host of interim articles in other sections when science/tech spills over to general news coverage. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/33 "2009-05-05T14:15:50Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > These are valid criticisms of this story, but in my experience, about 90 percent of 22-year-old fresh from college reporters start off doing single-sourced, one-sided, unresearched stories like this. They have to be taught how to interact with sources, how to think about what sources say, and most of all, how to go about looking for other sources of information. Your idea that “even a young reporter” should know better doesn’t jibe with my experience of real life. Kids just out of college and in their first reporting jobs are incredibly naive, and they don’t know what it takes to do reporting, and they don’t learn unless someone is sitting in that office with them teaching them. Really? I took Journalism classes in college and my Prof would have flayed me alive if I tried to submit garbage like this piece. Everyone who left those classes knew better then to do a one-sided, unresearched article. If 90% of new reporters don’t have that ability that is a sad commentary on the media today, but it really would explain a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284/34 "2009-05-07T07:27:50Z")
I moved to South Jersey (Cherry Hill, Fox Hollow) in '77. After one year subscription, we didn’t renew. The Courier Post is only good for coupons and little league. Even its movie listings are sparse and incorrect. Pay no attention. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-sloppiest-reporter-in-all-of-south-jersey/495284.md?page=1)