A columnist is not a reporter. A columnist isn't even a journalist.

[vakkotaur]

In the late twentieth century, a new corporate philosophy to all but blow the shareholders had ravaged newspapers and TV stations, bleeding off staffing, experience and standards until what was left of the profession was a karaoke rendition of itself. The Old Guard of journalism came to the rescue by increasing the number of awards and self-

Comments

[thecanuckguy]

I never 100% trust a media story, I've known too many cases of this where the journalist (even a journalist, not a columnist) doesn't do their whole homework, and wants to say what they want to say in the end (after all, isn't that why nearly every paper in North America is labelled with a left or right wing bias?)

For example this reply on the recent post where I was interviewed in the paper. Being the interviewee, I had the rare opportunity to know what the source material was before the article was written (the casual reader of the paper doesn't get that chance), and I noticed right away how some things differed from what I actually said, how words were put in my mouth, and others had their meaning twisted, and this was just an innocent article on my hobby, nothing major! Don't get me wrong, overall I liked the article and think it was a good thing it was printed, but the more I read it (especially since someone at work put up a copy in the breakroom, so I have a hard time avoiding it) the more I get upset that a certain phrase is (or isn't) in there, giving the completely wrong impression from what I wanted.

(Of course, I can also say the words "Vanity Fair" to you and you'll know how articles are written the way the columnist wants them to be written, not how the facts were to give an unbiased view.)