Any Fool Can Write, but Should They?

Forgive me, but I cannot help but ponder this question from time to time, but this morning, I really must ask it as a serious question. I am not going to provide a link to the pile of bovine excrement from John D. Sutter of CNN regarding Google +, but only suggest that the effort put forth by people who write about technology in mainstream media is really a problem.

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Fact-Checking seems as though some silly, outdated notion of a naïve, but long gone society. The rules against the mixing of fact with opinion seem to be gone for good. With a few notable exceptions, it is my opinion that most of the writers at CNN (and Forbes) should be fired for basic incompetence.

When you write an article or news story, should not the facts matter? If you have a personal affiliation with one side or the other of a product review which you provide to the public, does that same public not have a right to know?

If you have a personal bias, you are only supporting an opinion through writing, not providing information or facts that people can use. What is worse is that because most mainstream media sites rely on advertising revenue, many of them have resorted to posting untruths for the sheer purpose of providing page views to their advertisers, well aware that people will flock to a site to correct the record.

What ever happened to writing for the sake of informing an interested public? It appears they hardly care if you are misled by their words, they could not even be bothered to defend the things they write. I often point out that the Forbes author who forwarded the notion of Google + as a “ghost-town” ran and hid from me when I challenged him to defend his article in a debate. I have not seen a post from that individual since.

Everyone has a right to make a living, but doing so by purposely misleading others, or simply writing anything you can think of, just to make a deadline, is a specious form of Journalism, and it needs to stop. Now, I hope I am not insulting anyone when I remind you that there is no easier College Major than Journalism. I mean, come on… Black people have a harder time with Black Studies than most Journalism Majors do with their coursework, umkay? (Yeah, I said it; come at me, bro!)

This does not mean that readers should let them get away with posting nonsense, even if the writer does not know its nonsense.