Shawn RiceShady journalistic practices have left a bitter taste in my mouth that I can’t quite spit out. It is frustrating to have to question the reliability of a newspaper, which is intended to be the “watchdog” of society.
First, it was the Jasyon Blair fiasco but recently USA Today reports that one of their staff members, Jack Kelley, made up sources and plagiarized. This reporter is a five-time nominee of the Pulitzer Prize, a prestigious award that is not lightly given. What explanation could he give that would make us understand these unethical acts? None whatsoever.
As reported by USA Today, Kelley wrote scripts for his “sources” so they could mislead the reporters who were verifying the story and information. Why would Blair and Kelly risk everything they had by reporting false news? Simply put, these two are fools.
It annoys me as a person who knows the usefulness of journalism in our culture to hear a story about a reporter resorting to plagiarism. The credibility of the printed word suffers when wrongdoings like this occur. These incidents reflect badly on the entire journalistic culture.
This useless kind of reporting needs to be saved for the tabloids. Write fiction if you enjoy making things up, but please stay away from journalism.
We, the Loquitur, need to be more critical of the work we print. Our tagline, “You speak. We listen.” is exactly what we need to do.
Posted to the web by Marisa Gallelli
