Open Mike

Editor:

One time I considered a career in journalism. If I believed in a deity, I would get on my hands and knees and give thanks for never entering your field.

I’ve known several professional journalists, and it never ceased to amaze me that not one of them truly understood history, not one of them truly had a grasp of anything beyond the commercialistic common reality of modern-day America, and not one of them truly demonstrated critical-thinking skills.

It’s as if these people went to a postmodern cookie-cutter factory; sure, they learned how to format text on a computer, they learned how to use the AP Style Guide, they learned sensitivity training. But that’s about it, it seems.

If anything, Anchorwoman (Station to Station article, “Anchor Angst at Texas Station,” Aug 20, p. 8 ) not only shows the true banality of television reportage overall—Orwell, Burgess, McLuhan, Postman, and a few others would readily agree—but that anyone with a modicum of intelligence can be a television “journalist,” malapropisms or not.

And that’s what probably irritates professional journalists the most.

Believe me, I’ve seen enough television reporters with several years of experience mangle the English language way too much and far too often; too bad the majority of them are so ill-educated

As I mentioned, I don’t pray. But I do give thanks for going into information technology.