News Reporters...

I don't know about you, but I'm fed up with news reporters who continue to hype every story they get their hands on. Whatever happened to reporting news for what it is - answering the simple questions: Who? What? Why? Where? -and- When?

Read this article from Yahoo today: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061121/sc_afp/mexicoastronomytelescope_061121171222

The line that immediately caught my eye is-
"At 2,000 tonnes and 115 million dollars, its 50-meter (164-yard) dish -- the world's largest -- is the result of a joint effort of Mexico's National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (INAOE) and the US University of Massachusetts."

I'm sorry, but 5o meters does not come anywhere close to 164 yards! (Try 54.68). The "Hype Factor"- making it sound bigger than it really is - that's what today's journalists are trained to do. How many times do we read stories that are either fabricated or "lifted" from other sources and then completely revised & regurgitated using the Jayson Blair technique? Remember him?

This is the guy who worked for the NY Times and got caught stealing others' work and reproducing it as his own- sans quotation marks. Can you guess what 'ol Jayson is doing now? He is President of Azure Entertainment (whatever that is), and a guest lecturer on (can you guess?).....drumroll, please....Journalism Ethics!! (Never mind that between October '02 and April of '03 this guy (retyped) turned in nearly 40 articles claiming it as his own.

Whatever happened to actual ethics in media? In any business? In any career?

I want to know who the editor was in charge of reviewing the article cited above. That editor should go back to High School and take a refresher course in both simple journalism editing and basic mathematical conversions.

An Editor, by occupation, assumes all journalistic responsibility for the very organization he or she represents. While an Editor may be considered an author, writer and/or contributing journalist, they are first and foremost the principal journalistic overseer of media produced under their title. This is primary- this is functional- this is needed in the worst way...especially in today's world of 'cut' and 'paste'.

Perhaps I sound harsh? Or maybe it's because I'm remembering the keen admonishment I receieved in High School when attempting to produce a paper that was not entirely my own. God bless Mrs. Marble- wherever she may be- for her titanium coated ruler that rapped more knuckles than George Foreman and Muhammad Ali put together!