Here's why Donald Trump is partially right in his criticism of what we used to call "The Press". When the news media primarily consisted of Newspapers, reporters were well trained and experienced. They may not have attended the finest journalism schools but they had a better teacher - the cigar chompin', hard-boiled editor.
Nothing went in the paper until the "Chief" checked it over. Rookies sometimes had to do five or six rewrites before their copy would pass through.
Today, it seems there are no editors. Unskilled reporters type their copy directly to the internet, often shooting from the hip in writing a piece without notes or thought.
I'm Homophone Phobic. That means I can't stand it when I see to used as too or two. Or Plain used as plane. You get the idea. Much of today's reporting is done by people who wouldn't even have been allowed to report horse racing results back in the day.
Case in point today, in a hastily written piece credited to The "Politico", two reporters combined on a story that concerned the "border emergency". The writers were trying to do a straight news piece but at one point said "lawmakers effectively stiffed" Trump in denying the "emergency".
It's a fine point, but the piece becomes slanted and distorted by the use of a charged up word like 'stiffed' instead of a more descriptive, neutral, and appropriate verb like stymie, which means to impede, hinder, or block. "Stiff" means to cheat, deceive, double-cross etc. It's certainly an improper word for a story about the legislative process underway in Washington.
SEMANTICS! The rookie writers should have written that lawmakers 'stymied' Trump's efforts to divert funds by declaration of an "emergency'. This wording is accurate. They blocked him. They did not swindle or deceive him.
We may well get more FAKE NEWS than real news as long as news organizations fail to check and recheck the work of this new breed of untested journalists.
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