And they call themselves reporters

[Texas Proud]

I could put this in the pet peeve thread, but it seems to be getting so bad lately that I decided to give it its own thread....


What peeves me is that it seems that reporters have started this trend when writing a story to add tweets about the subject to add flavor to their article... but it seems to be getting worse...


I recently wanted to read an article but about 90% of the 'article' were just tweets of what people thought about the subject and very little from the reporter.... I almost always skip the tweets and just read what the reporter is saying, but with some it is really hard to actually follow the flow....


The other thing is that many of these the reporter actually quotes the tweet and then actually puts the tweet after the quote so it is there twice!!!


Come on people, take a little pride in your work and actually do some!!!

[Amethyst]

I've noticed this trend, too, along with the predominance of clickbait.

Mr. A. is looking smarter than ever, with his skinny paper newspaper that contains no tweets, videos, clickbait or reader comments.

[Clone]

A new trend in reporting has been confirmed by a famed forum on the net.


"Mr. A. is looking smarter than ever"! exclaimed one of the energized readers. Another reader seemed to confirm the story, indicating that "it seems that reporters have started this trend". They went on to say that they "read what the reporter is saying".


The forum is known for it's non-partisan debate of such critical topics as 'Social Security at 62- Yes or No', and 'thinking about inflation'. One of the most highly discussed topics in recent history was 'For the forum men... Viagra?" One of the posters indicate- "with some, it is really hard".


As I pondered these thoughts yesterday, I decided to ask some of the folks in the crowd what they thought. They said "it is really hard to follow the flow". This struck me as being insightful, so I asked another in the crowd for context. He indicate "I thought there was going to be free ice cream".


Click on the link below to begin the slideshow of "Cats vs Cucumbers".

[COcheesehead]

I've noticed this too. When the news comes down to reporting on tweets, what do we need the news for?

[ERD50]

"And they call themselves reporters"

They have to call themselves reporters, because no one else will!

-ERD50

[Amethyst]

"Here's why early retirement forums are useless for early retirement"

"I tried reading the Early Retirement and Financial Independence Community web site. All they talked about was Viagra and blowing dough."

"Someone asked the FIRE forum whether they should pay off their mortgage. You won't believe what happened next."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clone A new trend in reporting has been confirmed by a famed forum on the net. "Mr. A. is looking smarter than ever"! exclaimed one of the energized readers. Another reader seemed to confirm the story, indicating that "it seems that reporters have started this trend". They went on to say that they "read what the reporter is saying". The forum is known for it's non-partisan debate of such critical topics as 'Social Security at 62- Yes or No', and 'thinking about inflation'. One of the most highly discussed topics in recent history was 'For the forum men... Viagra?" One of the posters indicate- "with some, it is really hard". As I pondered these thoughts yesterday, I decided to ask some of the folks in the crowd what they thought. They said "it is really hard to follow the flow". This struck me as being insightful, so I asked another in the crowd for context. He indicate "I thought there was going to be free ice cream". Click on the link below to begin the slideshow of "Cats vs Cucumbers".

[W2R]

Seems like journalism (as we once knew it) is dead as a doornail.

My fervent hope is that in a few years, younger generations will rebel and become the best journalists ever, in their anger at the older journalists that are doing such a poor job of it. I think often that is the way things work.

[Winemaker]

Page 1 Headline

"Low Interest Rates Hurt Today's Seniors and Savers"

Business page headline inside page 8.

"Business Owners Welcome Lower Interest Rates, Will Help Fuel Expansion

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Seems like journalism (as we once knew it) is dead as a doornail. My fervent hope is that in a few years, younger generations will rebel and become the best journalists ever, in their anger at the older journalists that are doing such a poor job of it. I think often that is the way things work.

Or we get more Comedy Central type news. Hope you are right tho....

[Amethyst]

Reminds me of the women's magazine trope (going back at least as long as I've been able to read titles in the checkout line):

"Lose 10 pounds in One Month With This Miracle Diet"
right next to:
"Sinfully Rich Chocolate Desserts"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winemaker Page 1 Headline "Low Interest Rates Hurt Today's Seniors and Savers" Business page headline inside page 8. "Business Owners Welcome Lower Interest Rates, Will Help Fuel Expansion

[Aerides]

There is still a tremendous amount of great journalism happening, but, sadly, it's often buried by info-tainment-click-bait-profit content, masquerading as news.

Much like the similar thread on watching news, reading it requires a little intelligent sourcing. Journalists today are also paid far less than in decades past, and good papers are rapidly being bought out or seeing their newsroom staffs plummet. To me that is sadder than puff pieces.

[davebarnes]

Many reporters are being evaluated by the number of views their articles get.

This is why headlines such as: Retirements in Danger Thanks to Viagra

[Jerry1]

My pet peeve is the significant increase in basic proof reading errors. Missing words, duplicate words and just plain sloppy writing. I’m guessing it is because there is no proof reading beyond the original writer any longer.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry1 My pet peeve is the significant increase in basic proof reading errors. Missing words, duplicate words and just plain sloppy writing. I’m guessing it is because there is no proof reading beyond the original writer any longer.

And the original writer is only semi-literate to begin with.

[Aerides]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry1 My pet peeve is the significant increase in basic proof reading errors. Missing words, duplicate words and just plain sloppy writing. I’m guessing it is because there is no proof reading beyond the original writer any longer.

Yup, economics... copy editors have been cut in most newsrooms. Combine that with the rapidly-shrinking news cycle "publish NOW!!!", et voila.

[zinger1457]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerides There is still a tremendous amount of great journalism happening, but, sadly, it's often buried by info-tainment-click-bait-profit content, masquerading as news.

I agree there is still some very good newsprint/written journalism going on but it does seem like there are now far fewer organizations that have the budget and/or staff to do the serious in depth reporting.

[CaptTom]

100% agree with everything said here so far. Journalism is in a sorry state.

As for double-quoting tweets, I wondered about that too. It must be a requirement, since they all do it. If I had the inclination, I'd look up Twitter's terms of service. I suspect they require a screen shot of how the tweet appears on the Twitter page, or some such.

Presumably, the text of the tweet being discussed has to be in the article or it won't be properly scanned by search engines, useful in the future when the tweet is gone, or comprehensible by anyone who has images turned off in their browser.

[candrew]

Is it a case of journalism being in a sorry state or the consumers of news themselves?

Perhaps this is the news industry responding to a customer base that wants easily digestible information that requires little effort from the reader.

Part of it, IMO, is also the result of media consolidation. As local media outlets become gobbled up by corporations, there is increasing pressure on the bottom line. That typically has involved axing such "loss leaders" as investigative journalism.

[Breedlove]

Journalism is very poor and I sincerely do not know where to go for the news . When I open YAHOO you might see anything . Yahoo is like the National Enquirer . I think this is why Alex jones and Steve Quayle have become popular . The news just flat sucks

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by candrew That typically has involved axing such "loss leaders" as investigative journalism.

Likewise the entertainment industry.....we've seen numerous episodic series where the studio heads appear to have come to the conclusion that, because they have to pay the actors of successful shows more money, they can offset that by replacing the writers.

No.