Re: [OT] Shameless troll ;o)

From: Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5.se>
Date: Jan 3, 2006, 22:47 UTC
Message-ID: <43BAFF1B.6080607@op5.se>
In-Reply-To: <20060103222802.GA29610@thunk.org>

Theodore Ts'o wrote:

Show 9 quoted lines

> 
> Certainly, journalists are people; but they are supposed to check
> their biases at the door when they start writing (except on the
> editorials page); that's part of the stated advantages of
> "professional journalists" over the undiscplined bloggers which Dan
> Lyons so gleefully trashed in most recent cover article.  Given that
> he makes no effort hide his biases, at least in my book that makes him
> a lousy journalist.
>

Not necessarily. I've got a journalist background myself. When I went to school we were taught to say what was true, how we came to know that, what we *think* is true, why we think that and what our opinions are about it, preferrably but not necessarily in that order. Speculations and opinions are what differs a journalist from a reporter.

We were also taught that we, as reporters, should be the ones pushing the boundaries and our editors should be holding us back. I think Mr. Lyons editor is not doing a very good job. Some of the articles I stumbled across were not worth the time it took to let google find them for me.

I've never met Mr. Lyons or, until today, read anything he's written. 
 From what little I've gathered though, he seems to be stubborn, 
narrowminded and rude, but not eloquent enough to pull it off with style.

That said, journalists are actually supposed to be biased (how can you have opinions for something you don't think anything about?), but in a stylishly blasé and preferrably entertaining sort of way.

-- 
Andreas Ericsson                   andreas.ericsson@op5.se
OP5 AB                             www.op5.se
Tel: +46 8-230225                  Fax: +46 8-230231