A brief rant against newspapers

One of the responsibilities of my job is to talk with members of the media about publications I've written as well as topical tax issues. I enjoy doing radio interviews because they afford me the opportunity to put the things I say into context.

Conversely, I don't like newspaper interviews, because journalists have a tendency to fit whatever I have to say into the narrative of the story they want to write. There are some exceptions to this rule; a few local journalists that I've talked to multiple times are genuinely interested in learning and writing informative articles that serve the greater good. Unfortunately, they are few and far between. Whether it is out of ignorance or malice, few reporters seem both willing and able to write a smart, contextual story.

Generally, I'm not someone who thinks I could pick up a job and do it particularly well. I understand most occupations take time to learn and hone your craft. However, I'm convinced that if I got a job as a newspaper reporter tomorrow, I would immediately be in the 90th to 95th percentile in the profession. Simply put, they are not good at what they do.

I assume a lot of the reporters with whom I interact have journalism majors. I say that because they do not seem to understand the issues they are writing on at all. While I'm sure a journalism degree teaches people some fine things, reporters would do well to also study some relevant field, be it economics, political science, or even history. Without the context these fields provide, reporters cannot hope to understand the issues they cover.

Having said that, you'd at least think a journalism degree would help reporters write well. You'd be wrong. Take this story, from today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, on property values and home sales. It begins as follows:

Wisconsin weathered the national housing downturn of 2006 - but it came at a price.

Home resales declined 4.5% from a year ago, but the number of homes sold was the second-highest in state history.

A fourth-quarter price slump canceled out gains made earlier in the year.

The median house price in Wisconsin is now $164,000, up 1.2% from 2005.

The year ended on a low note.

In the final three months, resales dropped 10.7% in the southeast, 10.6% in the south central and 9.4% in the north, compared with a year earlier.

Autumn was a time when over-ambitious sellers realized their pricing mistakes, said David K. Stark of Stark Co. Realtors in Madison.

The first seven paragraphs of the story have one paragraph each! By my count, the article has 24 paragraphs, 17 of which have one sentence. There are also four two-sentence paragraphs and three three-sentence ones.

If journalism classes teach this sort of writing, shame on them. If editors encourage it, shame on them. When the media cannot be trusted to write an intelligent, straightforward, unbiased article, they certainly cannot be trusted to serve as a watchdog against things like government corruption and corporate sleaze. Consequently, we all suffer.