Author Topic: I hate journalistic writing (Read 95331 times)

Jonathon · « **Reply #525 on:** September 07, 2012, 11:33:20 AM »

This article is above the fold on the front page of BYU's student newspaper. It's gone from a daily to a weekly paper, and this gushing piece of boosterism is the top story?

Porter · « **Reply #526 on:** September 08, 2012, 10:47:45 AM »

I'll say this -- they know their audience.

That's not to say that every BYU student does or should have warm fuzzies about Romney. But on the "this is relevant to my interests and something that I'm glad I got to see" scale for the student body as a whole, I'd bet that this scores higher than most top stories.

Jonathon · « **Reply #527 on:** September 08, 2012, 11:50:41 AM »

I won't argue that it's not relevant. I'm bothered by the shameless bias. Journalism is supposed to be more impartial than that.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #528 on:** September 08, 2012, 12:33:40 PM »

Quote from: Jonathon on September 08, 2012, 11:50:41 AM

I won't argue that it's not relevant. I'm bothered by the shameless bias. Journalism is supposed to be more impartial than that.

Right, which is why we have opinion pieces, and articles.

Porter · « **Reply #529 on:** September 09, 2012, 07:24:13 AM »

And the ~~Daily~~ Universe.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #530 on:** September 28, 2012, 08:49:31 AM »

Link.

"...the company's new feature that 3-D generates maps in 3-D."

If only this forum could 3-D generate an eye roll emoticon in 3-D.

Jonathon · « **Reply #531 on:** October 03, 2012, 01:25:35 PM »

"Mile-high stakes for first presidential debate"

"Mile-high"! Get it?! Because it's in Denver!

BlackBlade · « **Reply #532 on:** October 03, 2012, 01:29:43 PM »

Mile-high stakes, subterranean expectations.

Jonathon · « **Reply #533 on:** October 09, 2012, 02:44:12 PM »

I don't know if this is exactly journalism, but I'm putting it here anyway. From CNET's current front page (I can't get a link to the actual bit of text):

Quote

If you're a MacBook Air owner, you probably don't want to clutter up your hard drive with a thousand pictures and videos and data. That's why this slim, light, well-designed external hard drive makes such a great companion.

Right, because who wants to actually put files on their hard drive? It's so much cooler to keep it pristine and put all your files on a portable hard drive, where it'll take longer to access them.

Porter · « **Reply #534 on:** October 09, 2012, 07:44:51 PM »

That is weird.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #535 on:** October 09, 2012, 08:28:29 PM »

As I read the sentence I thought the proposed solution would be iCloud. How wrong I was.

Jonathon · « **Reply #536 on:** October 09, 2012, 08:33:23 PM »

Quote from: Porter on October 09, 2012, 07:44:51 PM

That is weird.

Yeah. Maybe it's a Mac user thing.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #537 on:** October 12, 2012, 01:30:10 AM »

Quote from: Jonathon on October 09, 2012, 08:33:23 PM

Quote from: Porter on October 09, 2012, 07:44:51 PM
That is weird.

Yeah. Maybe it's a Mac user thing.

Hey. I resemble that remark.

I just think it's a marketing thing. Marketing's job is to be wicked. It's like an ad I saw on facebook (no commentary on why they're marketing these things to me, please) that said "Positive pregnancy test? It's never too early to start buying maternity clothes!" I was like, "Um, I can think of some REALLY good reasons not to start buying maternity clothes when you're a month along and you're being horribly insensitive people by marketing like that."

BlackBlade · « **Reply #538 on:** October 12, 2012, 08:12:57 AM »

Quote

(no commentary on why they're marketing these things to me, please)

My guess, you're a mac user.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #539 on:** October 22, 2012, 07:55:45 PM »

From here.

Quote

The Energy Department’s inspector general has warned that the agency has not taken sufficient steps to control the travel costs of its contractors, which account for 85 percent of the $360 million the department spent on travel over the past six years.

Do tell me more about what percentage of the travel budget was taken up by traveling!

Quote

the cost-savings orders were not universally applied to contractors, the audit found. The department has a federal staff of 16,000 employees and 100,000 contractors in various department-funded labs, research centers and offices.

So 84% of the people working for you are taking up 85% of the travel budget? You don't say!

Jonathon · « **Reply #540 on:** October 30, 2012, 12:07:45 PM »

This video has been showing up in the Google News top stories widget for about five days now. How on earth is this a top story?

pooka · « **Reply #541 on:** November 01, 2012, 05:51:55 AM »

Carving a pumkin underwater would actually be pretty difficult.

Still not a top story, of course.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #542 on:** January 10, 2013, 11:45:35 PM »

This one is actually pretty awesome. The headline is particularly priceless.

rivka · « **Reply #543 on:** January 11, 2013, 08:08:05 AM »

One of the things I enjoy about Scientific American is that they often have a sense of humor.

Jonathon · « **Reply #544 on:** January 11, 2013, 10:08:38 AM »

I can't find a link to the story online, but the campus newspaper's current top story is "'Winter' semester lives up to its name". That's some top-notch, cutting-edge journalism there, folks. Winter semester certainly does live up to its name by starting in winter. Of course, what they really mean is that it's really cold, but that has nothing to do with the name of the season.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #545 on:** January 11, 2013, 10:30:31 AM »

Quote from: Jonathon on January 11, 2013, 10:08:38 AM

I can't find a link to the story online, but the campus newspaper's current top story is "'Winter semester' lives up to its name". That's some top-notch, cutting-edge journalism there, folks. Winter semester certainly does live up to its name by starting in winter. Of course, what they really mean is that it's really cold, but that has nothing to do with the name of the season.

True story. If I had read that article while I was living in Malaysia, I would have had no clue what they meant.

SteveRogers · « **Reply #546 on:** January 11, 2013, 11:19:59 AM »

Headlines are hard, you guys.

(<--- Mostly joking. Mostly.)

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #547 on:** January 11, 2013, 10:16:58 PM »

One of the threats of global warming is that as the climate shifts we may have to abandon winter semester altogether.

Brinestone · « **Reply #548 on:** January 12, 2013, 09:28:42 AM »

And then it would take even longer to graduate!

pooka · « **Reply #549 on:** January 14, 2013, 09:48:06 AM »

I think we're technically in spring semester up here.