I don't have an atheletic subscription, and thus I'm not exposed to any of JR's writing firsthand, I get the cliff notes here. So I can't comment on how effective, accurate or the intent behind any of JR's pieces.
But, the role of effective journalism in general is to inform the public, make people question and deliberate over topics that are seldomly as black & white as they are often portrayed in everyday discussions. I don't see much investigative reporting these days, its becoming a lost art - local papers can't hold onto talent, it moves on quickly to bigger opportunities. And that pool of people at the top is steadily becoming less talented.
Journalism as an art form is dying in America, whether you subscribe to the theory that corporate America is stifling it, political correctness is preventing driven opinated people from seeking out these roles, the quality of education is lesser, the general audience is dumber and can't handle intelligent discourse or the internet itself undermines the written word. I can't speak to international print, but I certainly know that the quality of articles and topics engaged in national papers is degrading. Sentence structure deteriorates and typos are frequently printed as editors miss them. There was an article published on the NHL app stating that there were 6 divisions in the NHL yesterday... Clearly the author and editor aren't terribly well versed in what they're covering.
Literacy rates continue to degrade across the country. I work with a number of people who struggle to read and write, in a role where you're required to be educated. My mother is a high school teacher whose role has become assisting those with reading difficulties, and she's steadily being given a larger number of students to help from year to year (over the past 10 years). It's actually alarming to view some of the statistics on how many students are punted ahead a year, because teachers are not allowed to fail them so they can stay and finish acquiring the skills to successfully process and understand more advanced material.
So true.
Journalism is boarderline dead, aside for highly specified topics where people actually care about research, verification and building an understanding of of what is actually happening.
Today, I can plow through so many articles, because they are inflammatory fluff. There are somewhere in the range of 0-3 quality nuggets in any mainstream article with the average probably at 1.
I read titles to articles to determine the general topic. Then power skim for those minimal nuggets. The opinion that dominates the piece is lost on me because frankly I would rather develop my own opinion than parrot someone else’s poorly and entirely undeveloped one.
The few times that I read an article for 5 or more minutes, I often think “why can’t I find more articles like that one?!?”. Detail, depth, different vantage points...good luck finding that. When you do it is a treasure and that is incredibly sad.
I know it popular to rag on Fox News, but they are a perfect example of how screwed up things are with our ability to think critically. If people thought critically Fox News would not exist. The same goes for so many other media outlets. All these networks are just walking out people with extremist opinions on topics that they do not understand from any sort of objective or literate point of view. It is extremely disconcerting that people think what is being told to them is accurate or even valuable. Eyes meet wool.
Now I am not claiming to be some elite savant of all things related to knowledge. But sometimes it scares me to think that there are not many who are picking up on these issues.
Anyway, I may be a critical thinker, but I sure as hell cannot stay on topic. So, goalies anyone?
JR-seriously?! Jake has been hot for a minute (and I am glad he has), but this is really the best story you could develop? And, using a bunch of quotes to fill up the screen from interviews that are available to everyone at the Blues website is good journalism?
