No, I did not. But I had one who wanted for fire me, twice. That's when I learned aptitude will get me hired and attitude will get me fired. Darn, it was close.
You should have gone to some of my job interviews, then..
All I can tell you is that with me in the batting order, my paper won 10 of the highest awards New Jersey could throw at a paper -- Public Service, Feature Writing, Editorials, Spot News, and my name and fingerprints were on them.
After that glorious editor fired me, the following year, they won Best Food Page.
14 months after he axed me, the paper went out of business.....
I was fortunate to survive the editor with the hatchet. Turned out, he wasn't at all good at his job. Not long after my last reprieve he was reassigned in-house.
Inexplicably, my career took off. And Iasted 35+ years all.
When I was four years old, my father told me, "Dave, if you want to do anything in life besides push racks of clothing up and down Seventh Avenue, you will work in an office. That means you will type. So you will learn to touch-type." So he taught me.
I'm 61 now, but I still type and compose copy at 110 wpm.
Check out my three-part essay on "How I Learned To Write," focusing on my four literary mentors: Frank McCourt, Walter Lord, my MFA Creative Writing instructors, and Roger Clemens.
Hey I just wanted to say how much I am enjoying this conversation and being adjacent to you pros. Congrats to both of you being seasoned professionals achieving success in careers that I would bet many of us (although I can only speak for myself) aspired to. I could pull an additional chair up on to the porch and listen to you guys (apologies if my assumption isn't gender inclusive) tell your war stories all day. Fascinating.
So since you know the ropes, will the moderators allow earphones to be used? That would ruin the debate since it’s one in one, no cult members…NO COACHING!!! Please reply……
As a journalist, I would not be able to make the claim that "owners are in the tank", etc. I don't have the evidence.
I think the term "media" is bit like Hydra. Except "media" has far too many "heads" to be consolidated as one.
I despise the "horse-race" election coverage. To me, this coverage method presents a chicken and egg scenario. The media use that technique and the news consumers love it. Or, the public craves such reportage and the media fill their bottles.
I don't know how the media can induce deeper thinking and deeper reading.
This level of reporting -- in my mind -- is all about personalities or persona.
Regarding the "intellectual outer limit", I agree wholeheartedly.
A friend recently told me: "Highly motivated spiritual people discuss ideas. Medium motivated thinkers talk about events. Unmotivated people talk about people." (The "spiritual" reference involves a 12-Step fellowship to which I belong.)
With minor modifications, I think that applies to political thinking in the U.S.
Media organizations are now marketing arms of major corporations, e.g., Rupert Murdoch and Fox.
the "horse race" and "soap opera" feed and feed off of each other. The public, which thinks that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged and WWE is real, has no analytical abilities beyond following a reality show or soap opera plot. Hence the fascination with what the Royal Family members wear to a visit to a daycare center as opposed to their support for better day care.
The media can induce deeper thinking and reading by getting the hell out of the TV studio where they talk to each other and their talking heads about "what it all means" and try riding the New York Subway and ask straphangers what THEY are thinking about. I'll be some of these clowns haven't had to walk through the Herald Square or Times Square stations -- both named for newspapers -- since they were going to Pence School as teenagers.
(I wrote one of my best stories, on how the New Jersey Borough of Kearny was reacting to a new county jail going up in their confines) by simply walking through Kearny, into stores, and asking staff and customers. I even got to chat with the Mayor. It had a great lede..."Kearny was settled by Scots, Scots-Irish, and Portuguese residents in the 1800s, Joe Schmedlap explains as he cuts up meat in his butcher shop. More recently, it has welcomed African-Americans and Latinos. And now it will get 1,800 convicted felons in a new county jail." I don't think the blow-dried, bonded-toothed, giggly TV news people of today deign to talk with little folk. I doubt they care)
They are also obsessed with polls. I argue back? How many people were polled? Where? What did you ask them? How do you know there weren't having you on? What does 1,000 people have to say about a nation of 400 million? What were their education levels? Do they think the world is flat? 35 million Americans do....
Corporate media are corporations....the owners are in the tank for the Bloated Yam and his promised tax cuts.
Reporters like the cross between a horse race and a soap opera. It's more entertaining.
Their intellectual outer limit is describing the foibles and follies of people like the Kardashians and their squabbles, love affairs, and hooters.
May I disagree?
Do bear in mind….I’ve been an award-winning journalist on four continents for the past 44 years, so I’m no amateur.
Congratulations on your resume and accomplishments. I, too, am (retired now) a national and regional award-winning journalist
Thank you.
I am not retired. I probably will never have the money to be able to enjoy retirement.
However, you never had an editor who blacklisted you through the industry….
No, I did not. But I had one who wanted for fire me, twice. That's when I learned aptitude will get me hired and attitude will get me fired. Darn, it was close.
You should have gone to some of my job interviews, then..
All I can tell you is that with me in the batting order, my paper won 10 of the highest awards New Jersey could throw at a paper -- Public Service, Feature Writing, Editorials, Spot News, and my name and fingerprints were on them.
After that glorious editor fired me, the following year, they won Best Food Page.
14 months after he axed me, the paper went out of business.....
You must have glorious fingers. :-)
I was fortunate to survive the editor with the hatchet. Turned out, he wasn't at all good at his job. Not long after my last reprieve he was reassigned in-house.
Inexplicably, my career took off. And Iasted 35+ years all.
When I was four years old, my father told me, "Dave, if you want to do anything in life besides push racks of clothing up and down Seventh Avenue, you will work in an office. That means you will type. So you will learn to touch-type." So he taught me.
I'm 61 now, but I still type and compose copy at 110 wpm.
Check out my three-part essay on "How I Learned To Write," focusing on my four literary mentors: Frank McCourt, Walter Lord, my MFA Creative Writing instructors, and Roger Clemens.
Hey I just wanted to say how much I am enjoying this conversation and being adjacent to you pros. Congrats to both of you being seasoned professionals achieving success in careers that I would bet many of us (although I can only speak for myself) aspired to. I could pull an additional chair up on to the porch and listen to you guys (apologies if my assumption isn't gender inclusive) tell your war stories all day. Fascinating.
Na, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
Notice that our tone is respectful and friendly. When I encounter trolls and Trumpetoons, I treat them to the three R’s:
Ridicule
Report
Reject
It works.
So since you know the ropes, will the moderators allow earphones to be used? That would ruin the debate since it’s one in one, no cult members…NO COACHING!!! Please reply……
No idea. Good question.
Thanks for answering…..sigh!
Go ahead.
As a journalist, I would not be able to make the claim that "owners are in the tank", etc. I don't have the evidence.
I think the term "media" is bit like Hydra. Except "media" has far too many "heads" to be consolidated as one.
I despise the "horse-race" election coverage. To me, this coverage method presents a chicken and egg scenario. The media use that technique and the news consumers love it. Or, the public craves such reportage and the media fill their bottles.
I don't know how the media can induce deeper thinking and deeper reading.
This level of reporting -- in my mind -- is all about personalities or persona.
Regarding the "intellectual outer limit", I agree wholeheartedly.
A friend recently told me: "Highly motivated spiritual people discuss ideas. Medium motivated thinkers talk about events. Unmotivated people talk about people." (The "spiritual" reference involves a 12-Step fellowship to which I belong.)
With minor modifications, I think that applies to political thinking in the U.S.
Media organizations are now marketing arms of major corporations, e.g., Rupert Murdoch and Fox.
the "horse race" and "soap opera" feed and feed off of each other. The public, which thinks that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged and WWE is real, has no analytical abilities beyond following a reality show or soap opera plot. Hence the fascination with what the Royal Family members wear to a visit to a daycare center as opposed to their support for better day care.
The media can induce deeper thinking and reading by getting the hell out of the TV studio where they talk to each other and their talking heads about "what it all means" and try riding the New York Subway and ask straphangers what THEY are thinking about. I'll be some of these clowns haven't had to walk through the Herald Square or Times Square stations -- both named for newspapers -- since they were going to Pence School as teenagers.
(I wrote one of my best stories, on how the New Jersey Borough of Kearny was reacting to a new county jail going up in their confines) by simply walking through Kearny, into stores, and asking staff and customers. I even got to chat with the Mayor. It had a great lede..."Kearny was settled by Scots, Scots-Irish, and Portuguese residents in the 1800s, Joe Schmedlap explains as he cuts up meat in his butcher shop. More recently, it has welcomed African-Americans and Latinos. And now it will get 1,800 convicted felons in a new county jail." I don't think the blow-dried, bonded-toothed, giggly TV news people of today deign to talk with little folk. I doubt they care)
They are also obsessed with polls. I argue back? How many people were polled? Where? What did you ask them? How do you know there weren't having you on? What does 1,000 people have to say about a nation of 400 million? What were their education levels? Do they think the world is flat? 35 million Americans do....