4 ms·

I've worked with software engineers of various stripes for over 20 years. While more than one knew how to write, a plurality were not very good writers, and ver

I've worked with software engineers of various stripes for over 20 years. While more than one knew how to write, a plurality were not very good writers, and very few wrote at a professional level. This has, at least in my experience, been getting steadily worse, as students seem to be receiving ever less meaningful instruction in composition, research, outlining, and even startlingly (to me) basic grammar. Writing is a skill an awful lot of people undervalue in a very Dunning-Kruger Effect fashion, which bluntly can get pretty frustrating at times. The notion that news is something that nobody wants to pay for honestly strikes me as relatively new; people paid for newspapers and weekly newsmagazines for generations, and broadcast nightly news shows -- paid for indirectly through advertisements -- likewise lasted for decades.

tptacek 7y ago
There's also the misconception that journalism is mostly about competent writing, which it is not; news writing has a particular structure, but more importantly, much of the work of a journalist is research and investigation (particularly, in cultivating and corroborating sources).
- ravenstine 7y ago
  I'm not sure how people read my comment as an implication that journalism is the same thing as writing blog entries. Part of what I'm getting at is that I don't believe that it's that complex for someone to learn about proper story structure, investigation, and the various techniques in effectively getting a reader both interested and informed about the right things. Textbooks on the subject aren't particularly long for a reason. Competent writing may not be all that journalism is about, but it's a large part of it, and you even used it as your first example(a writing structure). Just because I don't believe that journalism is as rigorous a profession as others doesn't mean that I believe that it's worthless, takes no talent, etc.

tptacek 7y ago

There's also the misconception that journalism is mostly about competent writing, which it is not; news writing has a particular structure, but more importantly, much of the work of a journalist is research and investigation (particularly, in cultivating and corroborating sources).

ravenstine 7y ago
I'm not sure how people read my comment as an implication that journalism is the same thing as writing blog entries. Part of what I'm getting at is that I don't believe that it's that complex for someone to learn about proper story structure, investigation, and the various techniques in effectively getting a reader both interested and informed about the right things. Textbooks on the subject aren't particularly long for a reason. Competent writing may not be all that journalism is about, but it's a large part of it, and you even used it as your first example(a writing structure). Just because I don't believe that journalism is as rigorous a profession as others doesn't mean that I believe that it's worthless, takes no talent, etc.