3.21.2009

How not to do community journalism

I've been meaning to post a link to this terrible, terrible story for a while now. I just can't wrap my head around (1) why this is news (2) why ANYONE cares and (3) why each sentence needs its own paragraph. Just read it then consider a world without professional journalists.

6 comments:

Summer said...

WHA????? Seriously, is that a DRAFT? Is that the quote list? That's not a STORY!!! There's not even a point that I can get... What is it even about???

That is so pathetic.

Josh said...

I really like "Grooms died during spring break, according to Rhodenbaugh." I mean, Rhodenbaugh is a confirmed crazy prankster! How can we trust him?!?

Anonymous said...

well, um....it IS written by an intern. that's the only excuse i can think of for this poor, poor display of "journalism". i used to work for the news record at UC, and while i'm hardly what i would call a journalist, i would say that my articles were more interesting and well-written than this one. here's hoping that journalism doesn't decline into writing for audiences consisting of 5-year olds. :/

Eileen said...

Josh - I know! That's my favorite part. It's like, if only there were some sort of official record of deaths we could check. A certificate perhaps?

Josh said...

No! No time! I just really like how the attribution actually makes the story worse. I'd never realized that could happen. I also enjoyed how it's just sort of dropped into the story so abruptly. "They had a favorite teacher. [Paragraph break] He died."

Eileen said...

I think you and Harleigh have been friends for so long that it could warrant a Time magazine cover.