One of Hugh Hewitt's posts today delves further into the journalism trade. Although I have not worked in that field since 1993 I could not agree more with the increasing evidence that many news people, whether print or broadcast, simply do not do their homework.
And yes, I hold a BA in journalism from New Mexico State University. As one might expect I knew many other people in the program. Part of my educational experience involved actual news work for both the university-affiliated radio and TV station. I could spend several hours at this keyboard relating stories involving my peers and their lack of knowledge of a certain issue, mispronounced names, inability to ask the right follow-up questions, and utter laziness in the pursuit of news-gathering. No doubt some of these students were starstruck and more interested in appearing in front of the camera rather than paying the reporting dues. Certainly I made my share of mistakes but always attempted to use the errors as a learning experience rather than blaming others.
Add to this the decreased amount of time students are taught how to pursue a story to its full extent. After my graduation and spending some time working as a professional in the news business I was invited to be a guest speaker for a radio news class. Several of the students in that class also had involvment in print media and I asked them outright how much time the news-editorial (i.e. print) journalism classes devoted to actual news gathering. The answer surprised me: none. Those students said the classes were devoted almost wholly to writing, writing, and more writing. Picture these students being hired for a small to medium-sized newspaper and not knowing how to do the basic work expected of a serious journalist. Now you have what we are seeing today. Sloppy and superficial work.
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