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Subject:RE: Linguistic Overreaching From:al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com To:"Fetzner, Bill" <BFetzner -at- amsuper -dot- com> Date:Thu, 25 May 2006 09:01:02 -0700 (PDT)
> Al Geist writes: <<If you
> think technical writing is frustrating, try being a beat reporter for a
> daily newspaper for six months, or worse, a freelance stringer charged
> with supplying text and photographs. Take your vow of poverty first.>>
>
> Aha. So that's why there's so much ideological distortion in the
> newspapers.
> Maybe they should pay reporters and stringers more so we'd get text and
> photographs with better balance and objectivity.
> ~ Bill
>
Most reporters are balanced and objective (except maybe those working for
Fox news); however, their work goes through a number of desks (editors)
before reaching the layout department. A lot of material gets left behind
on this journey, because each desk has a different purpose and they are
all fighting for limited space in the paper, and they all answer to the
publisher, who knows he/she needs advertising to stay afloat, especially
the smaller papers. Advertisers do more to censure what we read than any
group in the country because those advertisers are in turn controlled by
the customers of the products they are marketing. The days when Edward R.
Murrow could save the country by exposing corruption and abuse of power
are long gone....and I'm an optimist.
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