Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 10:10:32 06/07/01
Go up one level in this thread
On June 07, 2001 at 11:04:33, Fernando Villegas wrote: >Looking at the posts about Burgess article it is clear that there is a gross >misconception of what journalism is or should be. Too many scandalized complains >about how light it is, how poor info gives, etc. Too much frowned faces. No >humour at all. Incredible lack of common sense, to say it straight. Sorry, but that is nonsense. When you write for a newspaper, you can certainly be humerous, light, etc. But you _must_ be _factual_. That article's first paragraph was grossly inaccurate. And there is simply no excuse for that. I showed it to a member of the journalism department here at UAB. I explained the deep blue / fritz history dating back to 1995, and then what happened with Kasparov after that (he is a chess player so he knew most of it anyway). He concluded the same thing I concluded: "very sloppy journalism". > >Gentlemen: journalism has many faces according the issue. It can be so serious >as to be capable of killing the career of a President, it can discover >conspiracies, it can be so sharp as to cut the fingers of the guy taking the >newspaper, but also it can be just amusing if the case under inspection is not >the big deal. I supposed everyboyd understood that in journalism, like in any >other activity, there is room for degrees of engagement according situation. >Well, chess computers is not the big deal, sorry, to be engaged soooo seriously. >Clearly Burgess took the job as I would had done in his position: an opportunty >to take a rest and get some fun for me and the readers. Maybe I -or other >journalist- would had avoided some mistakes, but, for the average reader, what's >the difference? What they are losing not knowing that the fritz that defeated DB >is not the current Fritz, neither is DB? They are getting wrong information. Would it be ok to say that Japan/Germany won World War II? Does it really matter today? The answer is _yes_ it does. The "puff" about the game he played was fine. But the error-filled first paragraph that made statement of fact that were grossly wrong was _not_ fine. > >Come on, do not be so arrogant and narrow minded. Do not fall in the trap of >every specialits in his field. Do not believe your job or your hobby is the >great thing and that everybody must walk around whispering and careful like in >the Vatican. I am really amazed that in between so many post, only three or four >-one of them of them by 16 years old boy- show a solid degree of common sense. >Fernando That is just what the "liberal" folks over here say all the time. Facts don't matter. Tell it how it "should have been" rather than how it "really was". Your definition of "common sense" is lacking "common sense". When people express "opinion" in the newspaper they usually say so. I see no justification whatsoever for expressing things as "fact" when they are not. It is unethical at best, and depending on the motive for doing this, it could be much worse.
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