“What you need is some editorial skill in your self-expression! Between impulse and action there is a REALM of good taste begging for your acquaintance.”
-the doctor, star trek: voyager, s4e25
We in the newsroom should have no illusions. Our entire purpose is to fill the “news hole,” which is the space left over after the advertisements have been placed on the page.
—
Theodore Daws in The Fall of Journalism, American Thinker.
Dawes, a long-time journalist, criticizes idealism and naivete in young journalists (in other words: those who think the industry is something other than a business that needs to make money), as well as j-school and false understandings of journalism ethics:
Of course, everyone overvalues the academic training they’ve received. It makes the debt, hassle, and spent time seem worthwhile, or at least less futile.
And imagine the thrill of using “lede,” which is the new spelling of lead, as in the opening sentence of a story. Its use provides the pleasing sensation of possessing specialized knowledge, knowledge well beyond the ken of the average Joe.
That is particularly pleasant to those who know so very little about everything else.
For example, I always ask job candidates a second question: “What is the difference between regulation and legislation?
Only one j-school graduate has ever known the answer. That was because, he sheepishly provided, he had worked as a legislative assistant the summer prior.
Tell me, please. How do you prepare a student for a career as a “government watchdog” and fail to provide the most fundamental instruction in how government works?
As befits their lofty status and lofty purpose, journalists work under a lofty ethical construct. Unfortunately, it is as flawed and juvenile as their journalistic purpose.
On occasion the ethical imperatives are simply incompatible, for example: 1) saving the world and 2) journalistic objectivity.
This illustrates perfectly an important fact: journalistic ethics weren’t arrived at philosophically or accidentally.
As is the case with many codes of ethics, the ethics of those in the journalism industry have as one of their primary purposes the maintenance of the status quo, particularly the economic status quo.
FJP: Would love to see a rebuttal to this.
(via futurejournalismproject)
Coffee with Maddie. Atlanta, GA
Gpoy
You know what is lamesauce? Someone changing the source of a post that I have with 20kplus notes and then reposting to their own blog. Eat shit, even if you are a “liberal blogger”.
who did that? public shaming!
Fact: The invasion of the Americas was histories largest genocide and demographic devastation to date, killing over 90% of the original population.
Native genocide continues in certain parts of the southern hemisphere, where mining companies and government personal have been known to gun down communities.
This is not something their decedents will just “get over”
This number is a subject of considerable debate among historians. There are no accurate or reliable records available.
Estimates of the indigenous population in North America range from the low millions to the tens of millions to as high as 100 million.
It is generally accepted that approximately 3/4 of the deaths of indigenous peoples were caused by disease, particularly smallpox. There appears to be only one instance of deliberate infection — little was known about the spread of disease at the time.
It is also important to point out that the United States did not exist for most of the 500+ years since Europeans arrived in North America.
That said, much of what happened to the indigenous North American populations would now be considered genocide.
(via writeswrongs)
Thanks for the Greek vocab lesson, HuffPo. I’m also really amused that whoever runs the HuffPo politics Tumblr browses the ‘Fox News’ tag for content.
Actually, I don’t look at any tags :D. Is that something people really do? I just follow interesting people, and they reblog or talk about interesting people, and then I follow those people. THE MEDIA IS WATCHING YOU, etc.
Kristen also posts to HuffPostPolitics. Maybe she uses tags?
This is you’re daily reminder that Death Cab has put out a few decently great songs since “Plans”
I really love that entire album; fuck the haters.
(Source: Spotify)
I need this shirt.
What the duck? (at Farragut Square)
Atlanta, GA
