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| Mean Writers Suck |
Now, don't think I have a vendetta against journalists. I went to J-school (what journalists call journalism school), actually. I was my college's newspaper editor, as well as the editor of a college club's newspaper. Just because I blog or write for the internet 
doesn't make me a bumpkin. Just because another writer didn't go to journalism school doesn't make him or her a worse writer than someone who did, either.
doesn't make me a bumpkin. Just because another writer didn't go to journalism school doesn't make him or her a worse writer than someone who did, either.It's all about choices.
I choose to write primarily for internet mediums because they pay more quickly than other publications. Someone else may go with writing for magazines because a minority of them pay $1 per word. To each his own.
We writers need to stop judging each other based on silly preconceptions. If a writer has a strong voice and her writing is entertaining or informative, that's all that really matters. How they make their money or where they went to school is their own business.
Agreed! Good post. Thank you for speaking up for the rest of us who write for Internet sites to pay our bills.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that the internet is lowering journalistic standards makes me laugh. Those standards aren't being lowered by writers, they're being lowered by so-called news organizations that are willing to accept poorly researched and written schlock as long as it pulls eyeballs - and it's hardly just on the internet.
ReplyDeleteYou don't think I'm a journalist? Fine and dandy. I never claimed to be. I don't write much hard news, most of the topics I write about would be considered features, maybe soft news. Those are areas I never thought of as 'journalism' in the first place, although I *do* have a strong journalistic background (I didn't complete j-school, changed majors when I realized that there were so many journalism majors that the degree was a quick route to a career that involved "Would you like fries with that?")
I may not be a journalist, but I'm a professional. I'm a writer. And I'm a damn good one.
I agree, Al and Angie. Writers write different things for different reasons. I wouldn't call a novelist a poor writer just because she doesn't write news. So why do internet writers get all the flack? Because the internet is a new medium. It's scary. Fear breeds hate, as they say.
ReplyDeleteI think there's many reasons to believe that internet is the new medium for information and entertainment. It isn't a fad and traditional writers need to realize this. Will the internet replace paper articles and books? I hope not. I think they can co-exist.
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