What ever happened to good journalism? Is anyone else noticing idiocy like this:

[proud2BlibKansan]

Every day I see something like this in our media:

"At least one resident of a Shawnee, KS apartment complex says she's concerned about the suspicious death of one of the apartments"
http://www.kctv5.com/video/18164848/index.html

An apartment died? :wtf:

[ixion]

1. yes, apparently good editors are lacking today

a good copy editor should have caught that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. I know several 5th graders who could have caught that

:crazy:

[GrpCaptMandrake]

4. And a good writer wouldn't have written it

Writing skills are taught with decreasing frequency in our schools. None of my kids (reasonably intelligent, b-t-w) have EVER been taught to diagram a sentence, and the youngest is in sixth grade, the eldest having graduated high school two years ago.

Proof-reading and editing is also a "writing" skill. They're not taught as much anymore.

Among other things, the age of "texting" has devalued grammar, syntax, spelling and structure. In another twenty years, the New York Times style manual will include the use of "4" in place of the preposition "for" and "U" in place of "you."

Evolution is not a "positive" force, and this linguistic evolution is a manifestation of that principle.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I disagree; at least in my district we do teach writing and spend a LOT more time on it today

Also, diagramming sentences does nothing to improve writing skills. I wrote a lengthy research paper on that topic in grad school. I also had remembered learning to diagram and thought it had been effective but lots of research says it is not. What works is teaching kids various writing genres and giving them lots and lots of opportunities to write. If I were a parent and was concerned about a lack of writing instruction, I would make my kids keep a daily journal or help them start a blog.

In my state, the kids have to turn in writing samples as part of our state testing so we do indeed spend a great deal of time teaching kids to write. It's actually one of the few things we have seemed to do right in the last decade.

What we don't teach anymore is Spelling. That one really blows me away. I incorporate it into my writing instruction (most teachers I work with do so as well) but we no longer have a formal spelling program and neither do a lot of districts in my area.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

13. Practice certainly works in favor of perfect

even if it doesn't "make" it. There's no substitute for "doing" writing, and reading the good stuff as an adjunct.

Foreign languages are also a big help. I remember learning a lot more about English structure from studying Latin in high school than from my English classes, themselves.

Diagramming probably doesn't "help" from an applied writing standpoint. What it does do, however, is teach how words flow into clauses into sentences into paragraphs. As a writing utility, I suspect it's on a par with the "written outlines" I was compelled to produce, and despised.

Spelling? I'm of two minds on it. On the one hand, standardized spelling just "seems" right. On the other, it's a relatively novel topic, only coming into vogue in the last couple of hundred years. Shakespeare couldn't "spell" worth spit and neither could Washington, Jefferson, Lewis or Clark, to name but a few. Cognitive research I've read indicates that we obtain meaning not from letters, but from words, and the definition of "words" in print may be more akin to our recognition of those same spoken words in various dialects and accents.

Just the same, we emphasize spelling in our home because it is a social "norm" by which one is judged by the outside world. With that same principle in mind, I try to teach our children a standard dialect, even though I love the lilt of our mountain Scots/Irish-descended accent.

[kestrel91316]

10. I think all the copy editors have been let go. "Journalists" appear to be

relying on spellcheck.

[sandnsea]

3. That's due to spell check

And a lack of real proofreading. But that kind of thing can slip by, but it does seem to happen a lot more than it used to.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I preach to my students daily

that spell check is not all it's cracked up to be.

[Sal Minella]

8. I tell people that anybody who uses spell-check REALLY needs a proofreader.

reign/rein, than/then, woman/women, their/there, palette/palate/pallet, etc.

[Berry Cool]

19. Spell-checkers aren't evil. They are helpful.

However, they are but one tool in an editorial arsenal, not the whole freaking tool kit. They are not going to catch some things that only a careful human will.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

7. The local paper has a typo almost every day

:dunce: This has gone on for 10+ years... :dunce:

[LiberalEsto]

9. Anyone who knows how to write well

and report honestly has been fired, laid off or bought out. I speak as a former journalist.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. You're nuthin' but an anti-apartmentist. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. You figured me out!

Damn!!

[ColbertWatcher]

14. I'm on to you.

But, to answer your question, journalism took a dump when Reagan did away with the Fairness Doctrine.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. A friend of mine who was a former local TV reporter died

I was looking at his station's website for news of his death. I not only found nothing about him but also found this glaring error on their front page.

So this is sad on a couple levels. :(

[ColbertWatcher]

16. I'm sorry to hear about your friend. n/t

[DonEBrook]

17. It died from chronic apartment complex.

:evilgrin:

[Timmy5835]

18. It's the NEW reality

Gone are the days where experience mattered. The bottom line now is to find the cheapest workforce available. That means you see few vets and mostly newbies in the newsroom now. Us vets are mostly on to other things now. It's a damn shame.

[pitohui]

20. the new orleans newspaper is just as bad

i think they spell check by posting the unedited crap and then reading the "comments" section online at nola.com to see what the more hilarious typos might be

[BlooInBloo]

21. As a rule, journalism majors are simply not bright. Their writing has been atrocious for years....

And even on those occasions where they get the syntax correct, 99% of the remaining time there's either *no* thought of interest, or else they get it partly or wholly *wrong*.

A stupid media is one of the shittier consequences of having a stupid population tout court.

I wish they all could be James Wolcott, or Digby. Sigh.



EDIT: The usual typo cycle.

[Sal Minella]

22. I saw a user-written movie review complaining that a director's talent had gone down the "preverbal

crap shoot."

One is left wondering if the writer can differentiate between dice games and channels for excreta. If it's all preverbal anyway, I guess he doesn't need to.

[donheld]

23. I HATE dead apartments

don't you? :D

[bumblebee1]

24. I'm my husband's editor.

He is not the best speller in the world. Whenever he writes something of importance, he asks me to proofread it. I always find lots of misspelled words and punctuation errors. I also use Spellcheck as a backup.

[Quantess]

25. Copy editors have become too expensive?

Have they been laid off as cost-cutting measures?