Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be journalists

So Junior wants to go off to Carleton or Ryerson or Columbia for a few years to study up for a career in journalism?

Just say no!

First of all, a journalism degree is a ticket into the precariat. After four or five years Junior will be lucky to find him or herself in an unpaid internship.

Even "real" journalists who get paid find themselves recycling corporate press releases and passing them off as "news."

For example, Christina Blizzard had a great article across the Sunmedia (soon to be a division of Postmedia, because two stinkers make a rose...) chain on Feb. 12 about how we can save a lot of money on policing. Good solid journalism, eh? She even talked to Stephan Cretier, boss of one of the worlds biggest private security outfits, Garda. Her keen investigative journalism reveals that we can replace a lot of $100,000/yr cops with $40,000/private security guards.

Dig around a little, and you'll soon discover that all she's done is recycle this Jan. 29 Garda press release!

That's what passes for "journalism" today.

Journalism was once an honourable profession.

And PS, the only mall cop making 40k is some poor shmuck with no life working three or four double shifts every week.

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