Is there a connection between the steady decline in academic standards and the poor journalistic skills evident in so very many online news articles? Spelling mistakes, omitted words, inane repetition and incomplete sentences abound. No one is perfect but this occurs on a daily basis. I expect more from people who get paid to write.
Just imagine if every professional turned out half-assed work e.g. surgeons, mechanics, food preparers, bankers, engineers, architects, pilots et al performing inadequately on the job. Journalistic integrity is at stake and the editors are asleep at the controls. —Expects Professionalism
This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2011.
The things is, anybody who writes anything on the internet can call themselves a “journalist” these days, just like anybody with an expensive digital camera can call themselves a “professional” photographer.
that should be ‘FREELANCE journalist’….
and ‘AMATEUR photographer’ unless you’re getting paid on the regular…
“Is there a connection…?” Yes, most definately. That and a crapy spell-check.
“Just imagine if every professional turned out half-assed work e.g. surgeons, mechanics, food preparers, bankers”….philosophers.
OB, half-assed seems to be the norm these days, lol – that’s what Dad used to say.
195 – you have a thing for “professional” photographers, don’t you? Too many people think, that if they get paid once for a service, that makes them a professional.
ach, seig hiel, mine feurher, ze ads und stuff you speck of ist nein goot. und i understand it to be very verboten is your circle of jerkoffs. but mine goot, vat do you expect vit such clowns und svinehundt teaching in skools today. auf vedershain.
Yes, I believe there is indeed a connection. I don’t when exactly this catastrophe occurred, but something happened alright.
It’s increasingly hard to find people who can write properly in their first language, and folks under 25 all seem to spell everything phonetically (or “fun-etikly”?). Just recently I received some professional e-mail correspondence with loads of grammatical errors (the basic stuff you’re supposed to master by the time you’re 12). How sad.
No need to create a committee to start working on Newspeak, it’s already happening.
Jawohl, Mein Liebenzucks. Zey know Nussink. NUSSINK!
http://coacheshotseat.com/coacheshotseatbl…
If you want professionalism read a newspaper. I could write an online article. I am not a professional and you should not expect that of me.
Hugo, I think this is the first comment I’ve made regarding “professional” photographers, but I could be wrong.
“No need to create a committee to start working on Newspeak, it’s already happening.” Yes, and it’s called lolspeak. 😛
Connection? How about direct link? About the time when the schools had to ask parents if they could fail the kid, I’ll bet. The people I work with my age (40ish) are all fairly well-written, with some notable exceptions (that were hired for their fuckin gorgeous ass not their penmanship). The younger ones are completely out of their league and can’t compose a letter or e-mail that doesn’t sound like a P Diddy video.
Professionalism should have 2 “r”‘s
Oh wow, sorry Orgasmatron, I must have been mixed up about the wedding photo bitch. Damm for not re-reading old posts.
Now that most major news sites have switched to an online format they face increased pressure to post stories sooner. This means breaking news stories are copy-edited after they are posted. Not true for The Coast, though.
Even if the content ends up online rather than a traditional newspaper, I don’t think tighter deadlines are an excuse for poor spelling/grammar. If you write for a living, you should be expected to know how to write, as in “get it 95% right the first time, and catch any mistakes left by proof-reading yourself”.
Guyute: My experience is similar. I don’t consider myself “that” old (early 30s) but I do see a huge gap between my generation and younger folks. When I went through high school, I was taught French, English and Latin. Every week we were given assignments in each of these subjects (essays, translations) to complete on site within 4 hours. By the time you graduated, you knew how to write. I’d be curious to see what high school is like today.
And (although totaly unrelated): Phish rocks.