5 ms·

"most people that become journalists do so because they failed in their primary choice of career." Well this is braindead. I assure you most journalists want t

by tiznow 3y ago

"most people that become journalists do so because they failed in their primary choice of career." Well this is braindead. I assure you most journalists want to be journalists more than anything else -- that's the only reason to hang around in that industry.

concordDance 3y ago
I recommend using "wrong" rather than "braindead". You're less likely to get people's backs up and more likely for them to be receptive. (Plus, it's less hurtful)
pydry 3y ago
My impression is that it's nowadays a poorly paid career of choice for the propertied upper classes for whom the job is an identity and means of social signaling and only incidentally an income. Same as acting - perhaps easier to get into though. They were for sure a lot more talented when there existed such a thing as a working class journalist. They probably also had more resources available to them to do real journalism - before tech took the lion's share of the advertising pie.
marttt 3y ago
+1, former and trained journalist here. I would say all the best journalists I know in person (many of them among the very best ones in my country) have almost exclusively had journalism as their primary choice of career. What separates top level and (as a cynical metaphor or stereotype) "screwed up former musician, now a critic and journo, lost in life" level journalists is that the former ones really-really understand the ethics of journalism. They make well-grounded, extremely careful ethical decisions, and they are able to make them fast. As a side note, in my country, I'd say ethical reasoning in journalism has reached a higher level during the post-pandemic years (and, now, the war in Ukraine). I think journalists' grasp of science (scientific reasoning) has improved quite a bit as well during this same period. Obviously, everything can always be better (also, 90% of everything is not-so-good), but todays' best journalism is actually pretty decent, isn't it.
BeFlatXIII 3y ago
> that's the only reason to hang around in that industry That and having a vendetta against their previous industry and now being a muckraking watchdog.

by tiznow 3y ago

concordDance 3y ago

I recommend using "wrong" rather than "braindead". You're less likely to get people's backs up and more likely for them to be receptive. (Plus, it's less hurtful)

pydry 3y ago

My impression is that it's nowadays a poorly paid career of choice for the propertied upper classes for whom the job is an identity and means of social signaling and only incidentally an income. Same as acting - perhaps easier to get into though. They were for sure a lot more talented when there existed such a thing as a working class journalist. They probably also had more resources available to them to do real journalism - before tech took the lion's share of the advertising pie.

marttt 3y ago

+1, former and trained journalist here. I would say all the best journalists I know in person (many of them among the very best ones in my country) have almost exclusively had journalism as their primary choice of career. What separates top level and (as a cynical metaphor or stereotype) "screwed up former musician, now a critic and journo, lost in life" level journalists is that the former ones really-really understand the ethics of journalism. They make well-grounded, extremely careful ethical decisions, and they are able to make them fast. As a side note, in my country, I'd say ethical reasoning in journalism has reached a higher level during the post-pandemic years (and, now, the war in Ukraine). I think journalists' grasp of science (scientific reasoning) has improved quite a bit as well during this same period. Obviously, everything can always be better (also, 90% of everything is not-so-good), but todays' best journalism is actually pretty decent, isn't it.

BeFlatXIII 3y ago

> that's the only reason to hang around in that industry That and having a vendetta against their previous industry and now being a muckraking watchdog.