Journalism may be the only profession where people get more stupid the higher they rise in the hierarchy.
In any case, they're not all fools. Some possess the brilliance to ask basic questions.
To that end, when it comes to considering the bailout, this former reporter explains exactly which are the right questions to ask.
3 comments:
There's a difference between being a "journalist" and being a "reporter." Journalists question authority. They demdand documentation. They ask questions like: "How do you know?" "Who else knows and can verify?" "Why are you telling me this?" "Where's your proof?" "Do you have a personal involvement in the story or personal stake in the outcome?" There's too much focus on packaging and not enough focus on content.
Fair point.
The larger issue, I think, is making the differentiation between either journalist and reporter...and celebrity.
The news world now values celebrity above all. Even the broadcast news organizations who try have slashed the ratio of anchor-to-reporter in favor of the people who simply sit in studios.
And at even the highest levels of the print world...newspaper or magazine...the zenith of importance seems to be simply repeating what everyone else is saying live on air with one of those anchors.
Fair point.
The larger issue, I think, is making the differentiation between either journalist and reporter...and celebrity.
The news world now values celebrity above all. Even the broadcast news organizations who try have slashed the ratio of anchor-to-reporter in favor of the people who simply sit in studios.
And at even the highest levels of the print world...newspaper or magazine...the zenith of importance seems to be simply repeating what everyone else is saying live on air with one of those anchors.
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