Over the [spinning] top
*
(NOTE ADDED POST SCRIPT)
"A journalist? You want to be a journalist?!"
No, please, don't get me wrong. Just because my major is Journalism doesn't make me a journalist in-training.
"Huh?"
He! You're right! That made no sense at all so I'll settle for saying that learning the journalistic style of writing was essential for me early on as an writer. I remember coming near disillusionment when I took my first Journalism class! It was weird! I was trying to be exact and make sure that everyone knew all the details of what I meant to say! So yes, words abounded--until Journalism entered my soul! Sometimes words come back to haunt me in seemingly insurmountable numbers but the journalist in me is the "V" weapon that will inevitably win out!
Other than "style," what do you think it means to be a reporter today? Do we need reporters or newspapers, or any news medium at all for that matter? My answer is, yes! If......
If, that is, there is actually news worth reporting. There is the key. There will undoubtedly always be news worth reporting. Therefore is should follow that it will always be reported. Unfortunately this is not the case. Instead, you see a psychotic habit among mainstream journalists. Reporters who once felt a need to report news that was actually newsworthy have now abolished all rational thought in picking their material. It is a habit which breeds lunacy--the lunacy of spin.
Spin? Yes, spin is a wonderful thing! It is what a liberal media uses to keep their balance in a country largely at odds with their values. They are like a spinning top; they are too dizzy with spinning to know which way to fall...
And so, the spinning continues--largely in the form of lunatic decisions about what is newsworthy. Understand now, that anything will qualify in the mind of a liberal journalist--if it advances the proper agenda. To put this in perspective, let me theorize for a bit. Suppose it were possible to delete every serious news event from the world. Suppose nothing happened even as life went on! Now, what do you think would happen? Would we see any major newspapers fold (pun intended)? Would we have journalists running around on the streets, banging on doors in search of a real job? Is this really what we would see?
Well, I really don't think they would know it if something like that happened. Think of it. How would someone accustomed to creating news ex nihilo possibly know when there was no more real news available to cover. They would still be hard at "work." One would find something newsworthy about the crack in the concrete at his feet (global warming!). Another one would have a reading on earthworms per square foot in Tanzania (extinction!). Yet another would have conducted a survey to find out how many state universities in Washington have more conservative students than the total number of faculty. To top it all off--you might even have a reporter go to the Democratic National Convention!
But until we can arrange for these people a universe like the above one I described, they should still be held accountable for what they miss. After all, there is real news out there! As hard as it is for the common reporter's to grasp, a bunch of honorable Vietnam Veterans dispelling a rampant myth about a senator's war record with undeniable facts, could perhaps be a newsworthy topic! Wait, there's more!
The vets write a book, pay for a TV ad and publish a website of their own. Why? Well, because they weren't newsworthy enough to be covered by the mainstream press and media.
Folks, there's one more thing I have to cover before I sign off.
The one thing that keeps the "mainstream" reporters mainstream, is the simple fact that mainstream America still listens to them!
"Sure," you say. "What else is there? I need to find out what's happening in the world. It's not like I am believing everything I am fed!"
Oh no? How many American's are under the delusion that Saddam was not pursuing WMDs? Too many! These are not only liberal couch potatoes being convinced of this. They are people like you and me who hear some offhand comment by a TV news anchor. A comment like "If Saddam had been pursuing WMDs..." Just a little fraction of a second, but enough to make a dubious claim sound so factual as to not be an issue!
That's all I'm going to say tonight but, believe me, it sure isn't half of what could be said!
POST SCRIPT:
******************
I have, since writing this post, re-read it and almost given up on trying to straighten it out (for lack of immediate time)! It's really a mess in my opinion--maybe you don't think so and that is fine with me! I think I have succeeded in confusing myself and just about everyone who reads it!
In my defense:
I was told I needed to update the blog by an impatient reader. It was late when I started it and I finished at the ungodly hour of 2 a.m. I had gotten up quite early that morning and was a in the process of accumulating a massive sleep deficit! I was more than a little tired--and yes, I did write some of those sentences in my sleep (really I did)!
I will leave it as is and perhaps come back to it in a month or so. Till then I will leave you to ponder just how low a "writer" can come.
Tata for now!
-Mark
(NOTE ADDED POST SCRIPT)
"A journalist? You want to be a journalist?!"
No, please, don't get me wrong. Just because my major is Journalism doesn't make me a journalist in-training.
"Huh?"
He! You're right! That made no sense at all so I'll settle for saying that learning the journalistic style of writing was essential for me early on as an writer. I remember coming near disillusionment when I took my first Journalism class! It was weird! I was trying to be exact and make sure that everyone knew all the details of what I meant to say! So yes, words abounded--until Journalism entered my soul! Sometimes words come back to haunt me in seemingly insurmountable numbers but the journalist in me is the "V" weapon that will inevitably win out!
Other than "style," what do you think it means to be a reporter today? Do we need reporters or newspapers, or any news medium at all for that matter? My answer is, yes! If......
If, that is, there is actually news worth reporting. There is the key. There will undoubtedly always be news worth reporting. Therefore is should follow that it will always be reported. Unfortunately this is not the case. Instead, you see a psychotic habit among mainstream journalists. Reporters who once felt a need to report news that was actually newsworthy have now abolished all rational thought in picking their material. It is a habit which breeds lunacy--the lunacy of spin.
Spin? Yes, spin is a wonderful thing! It is what a liberal media uses to keep their balance in a country largely at odds with their values. They are like a spinning top; they are too dizzy with spinning to know which way to fall...
And so, the spinning continues--largely in the form of lunatic decisions about what is newsworthy. Understand now, that anything will qualify in the mind of a liberal journalist--if it advances the proper agenda. To put this in perspective, let me theorize for a bit. Suppose it were possible to delete every serious news event from the world. Suppose nothing happened even as life went on! Now, what do you think would happen? Would we see any major newspapers fold (pun intended)? Would we have journalists running around on the streets, banging on doors in search of a real job? Is this really what we would see?
Well, I really don't think they would know it if something like that happened. Think of it. How would someone accustomed to creating news ex nihilo possibly know when there was no more real news available to cover. They would still be hard at "work." One would find something newsworthy about the crack in the concrete at his feet (global warming!). Another one would have a reading on earthworms per square foot in Tanzania (extinction!). Yet another would have conducted a survey to find out how many state universities in Washington have more conservative students than the total number of faculty. To top it all off--you might even have a reporter go to the Democratic National Convention!
But until we can arrange for these people a universe like the above one I described, they should still be held accountable for what they miss. After all, there is real news out there! As hard as it is for the common reporter's to grasp, a bunch of honorable Vietnam Veterans dispelling a rampant myth about a senator's war record with undeniable facts, could perhaps be a newsworthy topic! Wait, there's more!
The vets write a book, pay for a TV ad and publish a website of their own. Why? Well, because they weren't newsworthy enough to be covered by the mainstream press and media.
Folks, there's one more thing I have to cover before I sign off.
The one thing that keeps the "mainstream" reporters mainstream, is the simple fact that mainstream America still listens to them!
"Sure," you say. "What else is there? I need to find out what's happening in the world. It's not like I am believing everything I am fed!"
Oh no? How many American's are under the delusion that Saddam was not pursuing WMDs? Too many! These are not only liberal couch potatoes being convinced of this. They are people like you and me who hear some offhand comment by a TV news anchor. A comment like "If Saddam had been pursuing WMDs..." Just a little fraction of a second, but enough to make a dubious claim sound so factual as to not be an issue!
That's all I'm going to say tonight but, believe me, it sure isn't half of what could be said!
POST SCRIPT:
******************
I have, since writing this post, re-read it and almost given up on trying to straighten it out (for lack of immediate time)! It's really a mess in my opinion--maybe you don't think so and that is fine with me! I think I have succeeded in confusing myself and just about everyone who reads it!
In my defense:
I was told I needed to update the blog by an impatient reader. It was late when I started it and I finished at the ungodly hour of 2 a.m. I had gotten up quite early that morning and was a in the process of accumulating a massive sleep deficit! I was more than a little tired--and yes, I did write some of those sentences in my sleep (really I did)!
I will leave it as is and perhaps come back to it in a month or so. Till then I will leave you to ponder just how low a "writer" can come.
Tata for now!
-Mark
posted by Mark at 11:59 PM
I agree!
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