Comment by BurningFrog
2 months ago
It's important to understand who becomes a journalist in this age.
It's people who are very good with words, and at talking to anyone and everyone about anything, both is a friendly and confrontation way.
They also have almost no understanding of math, science or technology. If they did, they'd get better paying jobs.
Journalism used to be a well paid prestigious career that attracted brilliant people. There is not enough money in what's left of that industry to do that anymore.
I agree they have no understanding of math, science or technology. But I disagree with your assessment of motivations to get "better paying jobs", most people who went into journalism I knew were in brownstones right out of college. They didn't need the money, they inherited it, it was the lifestyle they were after.. that's why we get the journalism we do..
^ This.
They're not after money. They're motivated by prestige which CAN be money (ew, tacky) but is actually measured by access to key figures, your name being in the right places with the right people, and the cocktail party circuit.
My wife was a reporter in DC and she was at the White House Correspondents Dinner and everything. Living in those circles is surreal. The namedropping is a whole other level. When I realized I was doing it too (with some legit impressive names at the time), I gtfo. I'd rather be evaluated by what I've done or can do vs who I know or knows me.
Yeah, I should have resisted speculating about the why, when the fact/assertion itself is the important part.
I think you have the source of the problem wrong. It's just rich kids who don't actually need the salary, and want to align to a point of view that gets them a contract to write a book, so they get invited to the right parties. They don't know anything, or care about anything.
Journalism school is "eye-wateringly" expensive:
> J-school attendees might get a benefit from their journalism degree, but it comes at an eye-watering cost. The price tag of the Columbia Journalism School, for instance, is $105,820 for a 10-month program, $147,418 for a 12-month program, or $108,464 per year for a two-year program. That’s a $216,928 graduate degree, on top of all the costs associated with gaining the undergraduate prerequisites. (Columbia, it seems important to say, is also the publisher of Columbia Journalism Review, the publication you’re now reading.)
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/do-we-need-j-schools.php
> It's people who are very good with words,
They are also not good with words.
State schools also offer journalism degrees.
And FWIW, in my very limited and anecdotal experience, the programs are inhabited by people who fully understand their employment and salary prospects, but believe in the work, and often have above-average family wealth to compensate for the gaps. They're good people, but they are not experts.
I don't think you have an understanding of job specialization.
I know some journalists. They are smart people. However, they are not experts in math, science, or technology. They are experts in journalism. This wasn't any different at any time in the past.
Haha. I was a journalist for many years. I went to UC Berkeley. I likely currently have a far better paying job than you and have invented technical concepts that founded the LLM.
Me thinks the fool speaks of himself.
If you had a better understanding of math and science, you'd know the difference between the concepts of "one" and "statistically meaningful".
It’s worth pointing out one contradiction to someone who passes such vast and foolish judgement.
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