Lazy, Incompetent Journalists Express Disdain For Bloggers

Meanwhile, the traditional news media chewed over what the arrival of online commentators — mostly untrained journalists whose stock in trade is the sharp opinion, often quippy — meant to the political process. "Obviously, the official media don't quite know how to deport themselves in relation to the blogs," said Orville Schell, dean of the graduate journalism program at the University of California, Berkeley. "If they adopt them, it's like having a spastic arm — they can't control it. But if they don't adopt it, they're missing out on the newest, edgiest trend in the media."

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Over all, the very nature of the blog — all spin, all the time — seemed to suit the coverage of a news event where the drama was carefully scripted, and the nominations were a sure thing.

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Perhaps the greatest achievement of the bloggers was to create what the Democrats would like to see come November — a Blue State nation. On television the party depicted itself as moving toward the center. But to follow the proceedings online was to burrow, link by link, deeper beneath the blankets of ideological fellowship. On LiberalOasis, for example, one found dozens of links to like-minded warriors, among them The American Prospect and a Web site called Class Struggle. In cyberspace, left-leaning bloggers have managed to create an America where Republicans simply don't exist, at least as anything more than useful abstractions — like Eurasia and Eastasia in "1984."

Where to begin with this silly, defensive garbage?

"Mostly untrained journalists"? I love that. As if attributing quotes to "unnamed" sources, as if simply typing up what other people tell you in a way that conforms to your preconceived story line takes training! What do they do? Slog through the swamps in South Carolina on their bellies with a cell phone, a PDA, and a laptop?

Puh-lease.

Without giving too much away, to do my job--shit, just to be allowed to do my job--required years of graduate school, where I had to thoroughly learn about every area of my profession that I might come into contact with. Just to do my job, I had to take a licensing exam which lasted for a couple of days. And I have to take continuing education classes--a bunch of them--every year of my life just to make sure I still know what the fuck I'm talking about when I do my job.

Do you know what's required of a "professional" journalist to "professionally" report on our government?

Jack fucking dick.

Are they trained and educated in history? In Constitutional law? Are they even required to have the slightest grasp of how our government actually works?

Fuck no.

Most of them have journalism degrees. Which means what? They've got about zero knowledge about what they write about. But they have studied a whole lot about how other people, who also didn't have any idea about what they were writing about, wrote about their mystery subjects, too.

When I read a "professionally" trained journalist write about my profession, I fucking howl with laughter. They have no idea what they're talking about.

They quote the incompentents and the lunatics of my profession and give those fools as much credence as the highly qualified and competent people. And why? Again, because they don't know enough about what they're writing about to tell the difference.

"Professionally" trained journalists? They're gossips. They tell you what other people told them.

Sure, there are some excellent journalists out there. There are people who do the work, who do the research, who actually learn about their subject matter. Sy Hersh is one, Gene Lyons, Joe Conason are others. Greg Palast is a tremendous investigative journalist, who gets the documents, does the research, does the leg work, and knows what he's talking about. And there are others.

But most of them are just quoting people. They're looking for quotes that will fit perfectly for their story line.

Not "professionally" trained? Like Jason Blair? Like Stephen Glass? Like Judith Miller? Like Susan Schmidt?

Fuck, how about Jeff Gerth? He won the highest, most prestigious award for "professionally" trained journalists in the country, the Pulitzer Prize, for writing a series of articles which turned out to be not true.

And he's not the first.

Christ, if I submitted work, again, in my profession, which was as sloppy or as inaccurate as what passes for "professional" journalism in the New York Times, I would find myself before an ethics board reviewing my credentials.

What a fucking joke these people are.

Oh, yeah, bloggers haven't received the kind of rigorous training to know when to pass on unsubstantiated rumors from sources who refuse to allow their names into print? Dear "professionally" trained journalists, how did that whole Whitewater thing turn out? What about Travelgate? And, oh yeah, any word on what's in Sandy Berger's socks?

Oh, that's right! All that stuff turned out to be bullshit, mindlessly passed on by "professionally" trained journalists.

And the very nature of the blog is "all spin, all the time"??? Jesus Christ, the whole reason for the existence of blogs, the only reason people feel the need to blog at all is because "professionally" trained journalists don't appear to have the God given sense they were born with to seperate the "spin" from the facts.

How else do you explain a national media which reported for years and still reports that Al Gore said he invented the internet? How else do you explain the continuing stupid reporting that John Kerry voted against body armor for our troops?

You clowns do nearly nothing but pass spin on. Like it was facts.

And bloggers spend most of their time pointing out incredibly obvious mistakes of "professionally" trained journalists. Mistakes that are so simple that these "professionally" trained journalists could avoid them themselves if they even bothered to do something as easy as a freaking Google search. Never mind Lexis.

I mean, what is their excuse for being so fucking lazy??? Half the time, they could read their own damn papers and be more aquainted with the facts than they appear to be.

And then the big finish: democratic bloggers have created a world where Republicans don't exist? How foolish can the New York Times be? Democrats existed in a world where Democrats didn't exist. In the New York Times, the Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC! A world where the majority of Americans opposed going to war without the support of the U.N., a world where the majority of Americans voted for Al Gore, a world where the majority of the world opposed the Iraq War, only to unbelievably read and see enthusiastic pro-war, pro-Bush stories day after day from our "professionally" trained journalists.

Blogging exploded because journalists weren't doing their damn jobs.

And now these same lazy fools are going to write stories about the inaccuracies of the internet, of bloggers???

Jesus Christ, do your job well. And then you can make silly, snide comments about the "amateurs" who are doing your job for you.

Comments

[Michelle]

The level of accountability has drastically changed, and the journalists don't like it...

[ricky]

To be fair, I should say that my undergraduate degree was in English.

And I love great journalism, and I love great writing.

And I don't thing there's anything wrong about studying any of that.

My beef comes from these total fucking jokers who are too lazy to learn anything about the subject that they write about.

And then, instead of being embarrassed by their own foolishness and incompetence, have the fucking nerve to be all arrogant and condescending to the rest of us--as if to say, "The voices of the people are amusing, but if they were professionally trained, such as myself, they might have a clearer understanding of these lofty matters, which are so over their heads that they don't even understand how foolish they sound when they point out my many, many mistakes of fact."

Fucking jerks.

Again, you could major in softball in college and be a world class journalist. All you need to do is be honest, be informed, and do your goddamned homework. Do some work.

And these clowns are too lazy to do any of that. But they still find the time to write stupid ass articles trying to convince people that they shouldn't listen to or believe bloggers who point out what lazy, uninformed jokers they are.

I hope and pray the level of accountability has changed. But it hasn't changed enough. Many are irked and defensive. But few get their feet held to the fire for gross incompetence.

Again, aside from the Bush administration, can you imagine any other job with any other organization in the world where you could write a series of inaccurate articles like Judith Miller, like Jeff Gerth, where you could turn in months of work that turned out to be totally bogus and not get fucking fired???

[anna]

What do you do for a living, anyway, Ricky? Because, as your devoted fan, it IS my business. Don't care what you say.

[ricky]

What I do for a living is not as interesting as what I'd like to do for a living, which is, of course, play rthym guitar for Rancid.

Or maybe be a park ranger. That sounds nice to me. Except for all the bugs. I'd have to be a park ranger somewhere far north, with not a lot of bugs.

[Ellen]

Ricky, there are lots of bugs up north.

Anna, Ricky is the CEO of a well-known speedo swimsuit company. He has his own Speedo line - You may have heard of them: Ricky Speedos? He has to go to school all the time to keep up with public advertising interests and ethics. (He's very ethical.) And he's always in training to keep his employees in tune to the latest speedo ideas and innovations. He also models! But he's shy. Ask Donna or Jo.

Journalists don't like the fact that we can question their writing en mass without them editing what we say anymore, for example when we write a guest editorial or letter to the editor for the newspaper and they edit it to their satisfaction or ignore it completely. They can't control what is published anymore! Many opinions are being shared, not just the reporters. They feel like they are losing control.

[Anna]

ANGER....SHARKS....SWIMMING....

Fine. Be that way.

Strange that we both have the same dream jobs. But in my dreams, I'm in Bad Religion instead. I'd peg you the same. But there's no bugs in SoCal, so rangering is pretty tempting as well.

If you're the CEO of a Speedo company, shit, I'LL model the things.

On another note, 'rhythm' is a bitch of a word to spell, idinnit? You brat.

[ricky]

Lord, I can't spell anything, Anna. Don't you read my blog?

And I'm always responsive to women modeling my Speedos. Send in your portfolio pics!

My interest, as always, is purely professional.

[Jo]

Ah Ricky, I love you.

[ricky]

Talk is cheap, Jo.

I have zero Speedo pics here.

[dosali]

Here's a Speedo Pic
http://web.mit.edu/errhode/Public/MissUgly/27MissUtahoeSwimsuit.JPG

[dosali]

I think I missed part of that address. Try this;
http://web.mit.edu/errhode/Public/MissUgly/27MissUtahoeSwimsuit.JPG

[dosali]

Ricky, do you have a command in your comment program to make sure everyone looks dumber than you, or is it just me? The rest of that address is "suit.JPG"

[ricky]

Donna, I have no idea what you're talking about. I think most of the comments I get are pretty smart.

Except for that crazy, nutty, psycho lady who keeps posting under the various different voices in her head.

Though, I would hope that no one ever, ever again links to MissUgly in the comment section.