You know how I keep complaining that it must be helluva easy to get a journalism degree these days? Check this one out- "A British tabloid made an embarrassing error Friday, writing a hysterical piece that incorrectly reported the Defence Ministry had paid hundreds of millions of pounds to buy a five-inch-long gun. “We just blew £183m on a five inch gun, but it’s ‘a good value for taxpayers,'” read the outraged headline from The Daily Star. The subheadline also reinforced that the author believed the gun was literally five inches, calling it “the length of a toothbrush.”" http://www.mediaite.com/online/tabloid-makes-embarrassing-error-after-misunderstanding-military-terminology/ Now, if only the MoD had supplied a picture of the gun with a model draped over it, they'd have got the difference (sorry-nearly said "Dolly Bird").
I dont think the best journalists necessarily have journalism degrees. I've found the best writers have both a good intellect as well as a special talent with prose. Journalism (like historical writing) requires an extra dimension of diligence to dig into your topic and confirm facts. Education obviously helps, but simply intellect is more than enough. The writer of the article about the 5 inch gun appears to be lacking enough sense to be very good at anything, never mind journalism.
That is fantastic. Picture the Intern; 3AM, browsing Twatter for page fodder, half awake and half pissed from a leaving do. 'Oooh! Five Inch guns! That's appalling!' 30 seconds later, hit send; journalistic history made. From acquaintances in the trade, the biggest loss in the 'dead tree press' (as Guido likes to put it) is in sub-editors. There seems to be a much thinner layer of relative grown-up functionaries checking and stopping this sort of arse getting through.
Always a good laugh to read the same story in 2 papers at different ends of the political spectrum, both bias, spun and far from the truth. How do any of us know what really happens anymore?
