Criticizing Modern “Journalism”

The writing style of the majority of bodies of work (especially and particularly “news”) found online is abysmally poor, and uninformative. It’s a problem that I bitch about with seeming regularity. Doubtlessly, there are numerous contributing factors, but it is my opinion that a predominate role has been, and continues to be, played by corporate-profit-driven, Wall-$treet-controlled “media outlets,” whose exclusive concern is… MONEY.

Nothing else.

No concern for truth, no concern for veracity, for authenticity, no concern for quality, no concern for anything but MONEY.

And nowhere is that more excruciatingly shown than at Fox News, which stinking putrid pot has had the purifying and sanitizing light of day shown upon it brought by the MULTI-BILLION dollar defamation lawsuit against it by Dominion Voting Systems of Denver, CO, charging that Fox deliberately spread malicious lies about the November 2020 General Election, falsely claiming that Dominion’s voting machines were part and parcel of a giant conspiracy and fraud to alter the outcome of the election.

They were not.

And as tranche after tranche, raft after raft of documents and communications of myriad kind have shown, and continue to show, not even Fox’s lying talking heads believed the bullshit espoused by the crazies of the Party of Trump.

But more to the point.

Today’s journalists (I use that term loosely) are piss poor writers, uninformative, and more… and worse.

Here’s an example that occurs with calculable regularity.

A person is quoted, or mentioned, in some story, but their authority and expertise is not. It’s as if the writer talked with some schmuck, some nobody, some moron in the parking lot who gave an opinion about whatever topic the author is writing about.

From: https://news.yahoo.com/winter-storms-forecast-california-maine-080506402.html

“Some areas around Lake Tahoe have recorded over 50 feet of snow this year since the first of October, according to Shawn Carter, a physical scientist at the National Water Center.

“The Sierra Nevada, including the Lake Tahoe region, is expected to be hardest hit, with 1 to 2 feet of snow accumulations expected at lower elevations and 2 to 4 feet above 7,000 feet. Winds could gust as high as 50 mph, with up to 100 mph along the Sierra crest.”

There are MANY Shawn Carters, hundreds even, and the gentleman whom is mentioned is not some schmo off the street, nor merely “a physical scientist…”

It’s Dr. Shawn Carter, PhD, Senior Physical Scientist at the National Water Center with the National Weather Service, on the campus of the University of Alabama, in Tuscaloosa.
SEE: https://water.noaa.gov/about/nwc

Now… here’s the tricky part:

There is MORE THAN ONE “Shawn Carter, PhD” who is a Senior Scientist who works for the United States government studying climate.

His “alter ego,” or “Doppelgänger” (German for “double-goer,” a term coined by German Romantic writer Jean Paul, aka Johann Paul Friedrich Richter (1763-1825)), is Dr. Shawn L. Carter, PhD, Senior Scientist of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Climate Adaptation Science Center, headquartered in Reston, VA.

SEE: https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/shawn-l-carter
SEE also: https://www.usgs.gov/news/scientist-spotlight-shawn-carter-actionable-science-and-multi-agency-collaborations

And goddamnit, Capitalize The Proper Job Title of the Individual, the role they have, and the Organization With Which They’re Affiliated!

Oh… and another thing: Use the U.S. Postal Service’s two-letter abbreviations for states, i.e., FL, CA, AL, UT, etc. NOT Fla., Calif., Ala., Utah, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam.

Have a good day.