Crap Writing

[Tekward]

Journalism is in a sad state.



From the click-bait headline: "Nearly 30 Million Baby Boomers Forced Into Unwanted Retirement"


To the poorly written first paragraph: "In the third quarter of 2020, roughly 28.6 million Baby Boomers have left the job market and retired, according to the Pew Research Center."


To the second paragraph which exposes the chicanery: "The study shows that Covid-19 has contributed to the rapid increase of Boomers—born between 1946 and 1964—being forced out of the labor market. Since the onset of the outbreak, the number of Boomer-aged retirees has increased by about 1.1 million."


Did you follow? 30M "forced" to 28.6 "have left" to 1.1M "increased."



No wonder people have different facts: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackke...baby-boomers-forced-into-unwanted-retirement/

 

[RunningBum]

Agree. The author took some wording that wasn't entirely clear, and decided to totally botch it by rewording it.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...retirements-has-accelerated-in-the-past-year/ is the paper it's based on. It says:

In the third quarter of 2020, about 28.6 million Baby Boomers – those born between 1946 and 1964 – reported that they were out of the labor force due to retirement.

You have to think a little about it, but what it's saying that a total of 28.6M baby boomers have retired from the labor force. They have not "left the job market and retired" in the 3rd quarter.

 

[aja8888]

If you think journalism is in the tank, try watching the news channels on TV. Sickening.

 

[Gumby]

I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating - the authors of these pieces almost never write the headlines. That's the job of the copy editor, who probably knows very little about the article other than the fact that 28.6 million is almost 30 million.

What I got out of the article is that the number of baby boomer retirees has increased due to the COVID employment hit, and that some of them may not have been planning or ready to retire yet. Seems to be a fairly innocuous, if obvious, statement. I wouldn't get my knickers in a twist about it. If the exact numbers are of interest, I'm sure there are more reliable data sources than some guy who "writes actionable interview, career and salary advice" for Forbes.

 

[bolt]

^^I happen to agree with Gumbyand I'm not kissing up.

Plus "Crap Writing" used to be my screen name elsewhere and I was simply curious if someone found out


I might have stated it before but I believe automation is and will be a large part of the current employment malaise, along w/ the new digital economy. A friend worked to 82, PT, for a states DOT. I suspect those that enjoy their work attempt to continue working, he enjoyed working. His wife passed an odd 10yrs earlier. What else was he going to do being accustomed to that lifestyle almost 60yrs.

Morgan Housel just published this that relates to this threads theme imo.

https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/the-big-lessons-from-history/
Lesson #4: Important things rarely have one cause.

 

[Aerides]

It's Forbes, which is clickbait. That's the point of their site. Not journalism. Go to better sources for better writing.

 

[JoeWras]

I might have stated it before but I believe automation is and will be a large part of the current employment malaise, along w/ the new digital economy.

Regarding automation: apparently some on-line articles are now written by automation. I suspect I've read a few. Very much crap writing.

In another thread, a member here complained about the use of the term "all time high." My complaints are "unprecedented" and "record."

These terms imply a "never before" scary bit of urgency. In the case of this pandemic, "all time" has a 9 month window, but an implication of something since the dawn of man.

"unprecedented" is a real irritation of mine. Frequently, it is used by crap writers to refer to an event in their measly little lifetime. They need to do more research and not just use emotion.

They need to check all datasets. A good example of this are hurricanes. For the USA, there are very good records all the way back to the 1890s when the Weather Bureau was formed by President Harrison. However, most online searches of weather information start about 1970. So they get this "unprecedented" bias which is simply wrong. Yes, with telegraph and telephone, they kept amazing weather records. It didn't take a satellite or computer. Just a good old barometer, anemometer, and eyeballs. Yet, these records are thrown away, ignored, or unknown to these writers and researches, who probably don't even know the USA had a President Harrison.

 

[bolt]

^^I happen to agree with Gumbyand I'm not kissing up.

Plus "Crap Writing" used to be my screen name elsewhere and I was simply curious if someone found out


I might have stated it before but I believe automation is and will be a large part of the current employment malaise, along w/ the new digital economy. A friend worked to 82, PT, for a states DOT. I suspect those that enjoy their work attempt to continue working, he enjoyed working. His wife passed an odd 10yrs earlier. What else was he going to do being accustomed to that lifestyle almost 60yrs.

Morgan Housel just published this that relates to this threads theme imo.

https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/the-big-lessons-from-history/
Lesson #4: Important things rarely have one cause.

This Bloomberg article was another I was reconsidering reading this thread:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-11-19/congress-don-t-forget-the-long-term-unemployed
"The Cares Act will be expiring soon, hurting boomers who have been without a job the longest the most."

 

[Boho]

This Bloomberg article was another I was reconsidering reading this thread:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-11-19/congress-don-t-forget-the-long-term-unemployed
"The Cares Act will be expiring soon, hurting boomers who have been without a job the longest the most."

Even that's just a little awkward. The issue RunningBum pointed out is the only thing that I see as poor journalism/writing in this thread.

 

[Montecfo]

Journalism has been dead for a while. Writing skills also appear to be in decline.

No doubt a number of boomers forced to "retire" due to covid have "unretired" when rehired for jobs or finding new jobs as millions have.

Not to mention the folks who simply retired on schedule.

 

[Boho]

Here's something that I complained to FEMA about years ago. Now the page says "Last updated February 5, 2020" but it has the same problems.

https://www.fema.gov/faq/storing-commercially-prepared-water-v-personally-prepared-water

Also, commercial grade plastic is High Density Polly Propylene, are less porous than soda bottles which individual citizens might use for bottling, and are therefore less likely to leach in outside agents.

 

[nap470]

In regards to automation, my local McDonald's drive thru now uses an automated computer voice to take your order. Scared me the first time I experienced it. So far, has gotten my coffee order correct each time.

I think once they can get enough people moved away from using cash, the need for window attendants will cease all together.

 

[Rianne]

Good writing depends on who your audience is Feel free to correct that one!

If you're targeting 40% of our population, it doesn't matter what you say or write. Just make sure key words are repeated, highlighted, and in capital letters.

If you're targeting intellectuals, make sure your sentences are long and take several re reads to understand.

If you're targeting the financial world, be short and specific. Any business school teaches that.

If you're going to correct me as my DH often does, I will continue to annunciate words incorrectly just to be corrected on purpose. It's my secret enjoyment and don't tell DH.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Hey, you get what you pay for.

 

[Amethyst]

Alas, copy editors disappeared long ago, and it shows.

But it's generally true that the reporter doesn't write the headlines.

That said, retirement within the boom generation is not newsworthy. "Old People Retire" = "Dog Bites Man."

I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating - the authors of these pieces almost never write the headlines. That's the job of the copy editor

.

 

[MichaelB]

Hey, you get what you pay for.

That’s for sure.

Journalism is a tough profession. Not many other professions are subject to public scrutiny for every piece of work they do.

It has never been easier to identify top journalists and read / view their product, and filter out the noise, gossip and shoddy work. If we don’t filter we can only blame ourselves.

We live in a golden age of information. Never before have we had such open access to knowledge and expertise of others, mostly at modest cost or even free.

 

[Aerides]

Journalism is in a sad state.

The article isn't journalism. It's a promo. The "writer" is a recruiter, so he plops out articles on forbes on layoffs and hiring practices as literal bait.

 

[JoeWras]

Here's something that I complained to FEMA about years ago. Now the page says "Last updated February 5, 2020" but it has the same problems.

https://www.fema.gov/faq/storing-commercially-prepared-water-v-personally-prepared-water

Also, commercial grade plastic is High Density Polly Propylene, are less porous than soda bottles

Polly had a cracker, too! Didn't know she was involved in bottle production.

DW's niece was a journalism major. She was hired by a university to work on articles exactly like the cited web page. She is very well read and such a stickler. She'd read that answer in horror, and then probably have a wise ass remark about it.

 

[gerntz]

It's Forbes, which is clickbait. That's the point of their site. Not journalism. Go to better sources for better writing.

Babylon Bee for me.

 

[timo2]

What I got out of the article is that the number of baby boomer retirees has increased due to the COVID employment hit, and that some of them may not have been planning or ready to retire yet.

Yes, this meshes with the previously popular clickbait theme about how boomers are going to have to (or want) to work longer into their old age. Now that they can't, there is a whole new set of clickbait themes coming.

These clickbait themes are quite the sociological subject, if we can get up out of the weeds and get a broad view of them. What I've noticed about the most effective clickbait is how they must relate to a large numbers of people lives, so they will click on it. That is quite telling of the state of society. and the robot ones also. If people are not already concerned about a subject, the clickbait will be ineffective.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Yes, this meshes with the previously popular clickbait theme about how boomers are going to have to (or want) to work longer into their old age. Now that they can't, there is a whole new set of clickbait themes coming.

These clickbait themes are quite the sociological subject, if we can get up out of the weeds and get a broad view of them. What I've noticed about the most effective clickbait is how they must relate to a large numbers of people lives, so they will click on it. That is quite telling of the state of society. and the robot ones also. If people are not already concerned about a subject, the clickbait will be ineffective.

I assume there are algorithms that direct each individual to the clickbait they're likeliest to click. That's the scariest part of social media -- it is built to isolate you in your own little cocoon.

 

[timo2]

I assume there are algorithms that direct each individual to the clickbait they're likeliest to click. That's the scariest part of social media -- it is built to isolate you in your own little cocoon.

a little off topic, but it is not just social media busy about the determination of your interests. I got a new tablet yesterday that has google lens on it. If you take a picture of something, it shows you alternate products. I initially just took a photo of my feet, and the adverts came up with socks. I took a photo of the tv showing NFL and other football games came up as alternatives. Then I took a photo of my greyhound dog, and all sorts of images of other greyhounds and sighthounds showed up. That was too specific for me. DW asked what if you take a photo of your spouse, will alternative spouses show up? I declined the offer!!

 

[RunningBum]

I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating - the authors of these pieces almost never write the headlines. That's the job of the copy editor, who probably knows very little about the article other than the fact that 28.6 million is almost 30 million.

It's not just the headline that's badly wrong.

 

[braumeister]

A long time ago I wrote a weekly newspaper column and it used to really frost me that I wasn't allowed to write the headline for it. That task was reserved for the headline writers -- a group of four guys who did nothing else but write headlines for everything in the paper. My editor hated it too, since what they wrote was frequently at cross purposes with the actual text of the article, but couldn't do anything about it since they were union.

 

[REWahoo]

A long time ago I wrote a weekly newspaper column and it used to really frost me that I wasn't allowed to write the headline for it. That task was reserved for the headline writers -- a group of four guys who did nothing else but write headlines for everything in the paper. My editor hated it too, since what they wrote was frequently at cross purposes with the actual text of the article, but couldn't do anything about it since they were union.

Reminds me of a joke my freshman English prof told our class. He was assigning us a term paper and warned us not to be verbose. He said in case you don't know the term, verbose means using too many words - and here's a story that will help you never forget the term.

A young newspaper reporter was assigned to cover the story of a man who escaped from a mental institution after raping a nurse. The reporter compiled the story in three paragraphs, detailing what the mental patient had done, how he had escaped and the fact his whereabouts were now unknown.

The editor complimented the reporter on the story and asked him to write a headline. After multiple attempts, each time being told by his editor that he was too verbose, he finally gave up in exasperation. The editor then submitted his story to the paper's headline writers who came up with this: Nut Screws and Bolts.