FC: When anyone can publish, who's a journalist now?

Michael Maynard mmaynard at azipart.com
Wed Aug 29 14:49:00 PDT 2001


In response to Mr. Geer, first of all, he does a cute debating trick
of confusing terms. The original question was "who is a writer?" which
he changed to "who is a journalist?. There is a big difference. Anyone
can write, but not everyone can be a journalist.

There are rules and ethics associated with being a journalist, such as
verifying facts, using direct quotes only when directly attributible from
the source, and requiring at least two sources when verifying information
provided from an unknown or questionable oringinal source.

These rules and ethics have certainly been diminshed in recent years
through the works of self-styled "journalists", like Matt Drudge. However,
true journalism, passed down to us from our precedessors, such as H.L. Mencken,
is a very honorable and necessary profession. Right now, the world needs more
true journalists and less journlistic poseurs who have tried to confuse
tabloid-level
sensationalism to be real journalism.

So, Mr. Geer, your press pass is definitely denied.

**********



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