Doin' it wrong We here at ye olde Yr Wonkette are not A Journalist. Which does not mean we do not know how journalism is formed. We (yr editrix Rebecca Schoenkopf) went to journalism school, for journalism, and then taught college journalism students how to do journalism too. We (yr executive editor Kaili Joy Gray) were the tyrannical opinion page editor of our college paper, where our tone was “a bit much” and also “super fucking bitchy,” but thank the lord God invented blogging, where those are features, not bugs.
I learned to despise most journalists (sorry, Rebecca!) in my very first job working for county government. The county was going to sell some land to raise money to finance something that would benefit everyone in the county. They got an appraisal on the land. It would have been against the interests of the tax payers in the county if the appraisal amount had been published in the local newspaper before bids were received, but that's just what one local reporter did (recent graduate of Mizzou School of Journalism, class of 1978). He stood behind the counter in front of my desk while I was at lunch and read one of the County Judge's handwritten notes, which was sitting on my desk. He read it upside down from 2 feet away (is this a talent they teach in J-School?) and the figures were published the next day, thereby eliminating the county's power to negotiate a higher price for the land from bidders. The newspaper publishers refused to acknowledge any wrong-doing, but I have never trusted a journalist since then.
I started in journalism in 1978, and for the next 32 years worked as a reporter and later editor in local newspapers in the east and the midwest. Worked hard at the craft, to cover everything from boring village board stories to elections, to tornadoes, to regional news, as well as features. I also know how to read upside down, but only because I amused myself with it on the way to high school on the bus. Never went to J school, but I have had to train some J school grads how to do their jobs. I learned the trade the old fashioned way, from the excellent people I worked with. Whatever you might think of journalism, and it traditionally has not been a glorified occupation, even in the minds of faithful subscribers, newspapers, healthy, thriving newspapers, have served this country well, especially as the training ground for good reporters and editors. Now, newspapers are circling the drain, thanks to the intertubes and a generally crappy economy, and I can see the evidence every day in the very types of journalistic wrongs and foibles our Wonkette highlighted in this article, not to mention creeping illiteracy at all levels. I have a major sad for the trade, and for the country it serves.
I have a major sad for the trade too, because when it is done properly, it is one of the greatest tools of democracy ever invented. If I ever write my autobiography I will call it "What Would Walter Cronkite Say?"
The NYT is seriously engaged in their own variant of the Gambler's Fallacy -- that Darrell Issa has been wrong about so many things for so long that he's statistically guaranteed to be right about something big soon. Which proves only that the NYT doesn't know the difference between randomness and intent.
YOU KNOW WHAT PEOPLE? I'M NOT BLACK, BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF TIMES I WISH I COULD SAY I'M NOT WHITE
Also, too, Don't Be A Scammy Spammer.
Right!? We *need* 8 weeks of 12 hours-a-day breathless giant-screened 3d coverage explaining that no details are known about an airplane!
I learned to despise most journalists (sorry, Rebecca!) in my very first job working for county government. The county was going to sell some land to raise money to finance something that would benefit everyone in the county. They got an appraisal on the land. It would have been against the interests of the tax payers in the county if the appraisal amount had been published in the local newspaper before bids were received, but that's just what one local reporter did (recent graduate of Mizzou School of Journalism, class of 1978). He stood behind the counter in front of my desk while I was at lunch and read one of the County Judge's handwritten notes, which was sitting on my desk. He read it upside down from 2 feet away (is this a talent they teach in J-School?) and the figures were published the next day, thereby eliminating the county's power to negotiate a higher price for the land from bidders. The newspaper publishers refused to acknowledge any wrong-doing, but I have never trusted a journalist since then.
They're named after famous NYC Hotels. But the why escapes me, because I'm only half an old.
That part about talent is a little hard to believe.
Read that joke, looked at your name, thought, No wonder, Ms. Bobbet.
And they they don't even do good nastying, viling, snarking, or mobbing--which it should because balancing the humors.
I'm old-fashioned.
I started in journalism in 1978, and for the next 32 years worked as a reporter and later editor in local newspapers in the east and the midwest. Worked hard at the craft, to cover everything from boring village board stories to elections, to tornadoes, to regional news, as well as features. I also know how to read upside down, but only because I amused myself with it on the way to high school on the bus. Never went to J school, but I have had to train some J school grads how to do their jobs. I learned the trade the old fashioned way, from the excellent people I worked with. Whatever you might think of journalism, and it traditionally has not been a glorified occupation, even in the minds of faithful subscribers, newspapers, healthy, thriving newspapers, have served this country well, especially as the training ground for good reporters and editors. Now, newspapers are circling the drain, thanks to the intertubes and a generally crappy economy, and I can see the evidence every day in the very types of journalistic wrongs and foibles our Wonkette highlighted in this article, not to mention creeping illiteracy at all levels. I have a major sad for the trade, and for the country it serves.
I have a major sad for the trade too, because when it is done properly, it is one of the greatest tools of democracy ever invented. If I ever write my autobiography I will call it "What Would Walter Cronkite Say?"
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was also just a snark fest until we all realized he was the only one on tv worthwhile
Tell us how much coverage the NYT or the War Criminal Post have provided for Bernie Sanders?
They absolutely DO want it to come down to Hillary, the Wall St. warmonger "liberal" vs. whatever droog the GOP comes up with.~
Yeah! That's it. I think they even made a movie of it, the one with that guy who looks like Dan Quayle(with an "e")
Speaking of the War Criminal Post...
https://twitter.com/HeerJee...~
The NYT is seriously engaged in their own variant of the Gambler's Fallacy -- that Darrell Issa has been wrong about so many things for so long that he's statistically guaranteed to be right about something big soon. Which proves only that the NYT doesn't know the difference between randomness and intent.