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0 pointsbee_rider1y ago0 comments

The journalist is making a product for the reader in the best case, their job is to help the reader. The second example you mention is a typical example of clickbait journalism, where the journalist has betrayed the reader and is trying to steal their attention, because they actually serve advertisers.

But the first example is not very useful either. That journalist could be replaced by a fully automated thermometer. Or weather stations with an API. Context is useful: “It is 35 degrees Celsius, and we’re predicting that it will stay sunny all day” will help you plan your day. “It is 35 degrees Celsius today, finishing off an unseasonably warm September” could provide a little info about the overall trend in the weather this year.

I don’t see any particular reason that journalists should follow your definition, which you seem to have just… made up?

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Dalewyn1y ago

>your definition, which you seem to have just… made up?

See: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/journal

Specifically noun, senses 2B through 2F.

I expect journalists to record journals and nothing more nor nothing less, not editorials or opinion pieces which are written by authors or columnists or whatever.

bee_riderOP1y ago

Dictionary similarity is not how people get their job descriptions. If you want to just pick a similar word from the dictionary, why are journalists sharing this stuff? Journals are typically private, after all. If someone read your journal, you might be annoyed, right?

Or, from your definition, apparently:

> the part of a rotating shaft, axle, roll, or spindle that turns in a bearing

I don’t think these journalists rotate much at all!

A better definition is one of… journalism.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/journalism

journalism, the collection, preparation, and distribution of news and related commentary and feature materials through such print and electronic media as […]

That said, I don’t think an argument from definition is all that good anyway. These definitions are descriptive, not prescriptive. Journalism is a profession, they do what they do for the public good. If you think that it would be better for the field of journalism to produce a contextless log of events, defend that idea in and of itself, rather than leaning on some definition.

vundercind1y ago

Why favor a definition of “journalist” that approximately nobody else uses? It seems like it would just make it hard to communicate.

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