TOLEDO, Ohio - Joe The Plumber is putting down his wrenches and picking up a reporter’s notebook.
The Ohio man who became a household name during the presidential campaign says he is heading to Israel as a war correspondent for the conservative Web site pjtv.com.
Samuel J. Wurzelbacher says he’ll spend 10 days covering the fighting.
He tells WNWO-TV in Toledo that he wants to let Israel’s “‘Average Joes’ share their story.”
Wurzelbacher gained attention during the final weeks of the campaign when he asked Barack Obama about his tax plan.
edit: should add some content I suppose since it's my thread; I have very little respect for journalists, however, they do go to school to learn how to be one. What is it with people who think an untrained person is every bit as qualified to do a job that a trained person is? For fucks sake, Joe the dipshit would be pissed at some 18 year old without a lick of plumbing experience, taking his jobs away from him (well if Joe had a plumbers license anyways).
I won't go as far as saying I hope something bad happens to him, but Mr. Joe the Journalist is about to get a very rude awakening and a chance at a big life lesson, unless he's catered to and protected by being away from the front and just does puff pieces.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
Knife wrote:edit: should add some content I suppose since it's my thread; I have very little respect for journalists, however, they do go to school to learn how to be one.
The only thing that distinguishes journalists really from the average guy on the street is their ability to crank out a page or two's worth of useless filler crap news in an hour or two for publication.
I think I'll quote Lonestar's own signature in this thread.
"You have done more to ensure liberties for people today, Matt than all of the goddamn reporters in the world combined"- Shep, [to me on AIM] after his visit to the Newseum
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
Knife wrote:I won't go as far as saying I hope something bad happens to him, but Mr. Joe the Journalist is about to get a very rude awakening and a chance at a big life lesson, unless he's catered to and protected by being away from the front and just does puff pieces.
I hope no one already there suffers as a result of having to keep this guy safe, or pull him out of a potentially dangerous situation. What is to be served by having this ignorant hick place himself in such an environment?
Knife wrote:edit: should add some content I suppose since it's my thread; I have very little respect for journalists, however, they do go to school to learn how to be one.
The only thing that distinguishes journalists really from the average guy on the street is their ability to crank out a page or two's worth of useless filler crap news in an hour or two for publication.
Of course, there is the small matter of learning how to use sources, get insiders to talk to you, foreign languages, writing skills etc....
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
Thanas wrote:Of course, there is the small matter of learning how to use sources, get insiders to talk to you, foreign languages, writing skills etc....
Some writing skills are required. It's just that most people lack the capability to bang out two pages of bullshit that essentially says nothing past the first two paragraphs.
We no longer live in the age of Douglas Southall Freeman, to be honest.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
Thanas wrote:Of course, there is the small matter of learning how to use sources, get insiders to talk to you, foreign languages, writing skills etc....
Some writing skills are required. It's just that most people lack the capability to bang out two pages of bullshit that essentially says nothing past the first two paragraphs.
We no longer live in the age of Douglas Southall Freeman, to be honest.
There are bad reporters, sure. However to claim that an average person can do the job of a reporter as well as they can is a bit too much, isn't it? After all, no average american I know of can speak several languages or has that much knowledge about politics.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
After all, no average american I know of can speak several languages or has that much knowledge about politics.
Can the average reporter actually do this? Modern reporting doesn't seem to produce much of anything. Are most reporters above average in reality? Doesn't seem like the American news-force has that great of a grasp of multiple languages or even American politics.
Joe's not going over there as a reporter, he's going over there to be an uncritical shill and tell his self selected audience just what it wants to hear.
Think of Pajamas Media (though there are a few good PJM bloggers) as a low rent version of Fox News.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
I hope he stays with one of those Ultra Orthodox nutjobs for the duration of his little field trip.
Turns out that a five way cross over between It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Ali G Show, Fargo, Idiocracy and Veep is a lot less funny when you're actually living in it.
Despite the horrendous quality of reporting, most reporters here are required to know at least two foreign languages, one fluently and the other to some degree. At least, that's what most papers demand of the job seekers.
Lì ci sono chiese, macerie, moschee e questure, lì frontiere, prezzi inaccessibile e freddure
Lì paludi, minacce, cecchini coi fucili, documenti, file notturne e clandestini
Qui incontri, lotte, passi sincronizzati, colori, capannelli non autorizzati,
Uccelli migratori, reti, informazioni, piazze di Tutti i like pazze di passioni...
...La tranquillità è importante ma la libertà è tutto!
If Joe keeps this up, he can get into that tax bracket he asked Obama about.
"If the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If neither is on your side, pound on the table."
"The captain claimed our people violated a 4,000 year old treaty forbidding us to develop hyperspace technology. Extermination of our planet was the consequence. The subject did not survive interrogation."
Knife wrote:edit: should add some content I suppose since it's my thread; I have very little respect for journalists, however, they do go to school to learn how to be one.
The only thing that distinguishes journalists really from the average guy on the street is their ability to crank out a page or two's worth of useless filler crap news in an hour or two for publication.
I think I'll quote Lonestar's own signature in this thread.
"You have done more to ensure liberties for people today, Matt than all of the goddamn reporters in the world combined"- Shep, [to me on AIM] after his visit to the Newseum
Oh bull and shit. That's like saying the average guy can crank out a novel and doesn't need any schooling on how to write. I've seen horrible fanfics and I know that not every Joe the Fucknut can write. Reporting is more than standing in front of a camera and reading the lines your handlers give you, well I guess if your an anchor but that is just one small segment of journalists.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
Knife wrote:Reporting is more than standing in front of a camera and reading the lines your handlers give you, well I guess if your an anchor but that is just one small segment of journalists.
While true, it's not that easy to look and sound natural, as opposed to wooden, like you're reading something. Also, not every reporter is attractive enough to be in front of the camera reading the news. There's a reason not every reporter becomes a news reader.
In Brazil they say that Pele was the best, but Garrincha was better
Knife wrote:Reporting is more than standing in front of a camera and reading the lines your handlers give you, well I guess if your an anchor but that is just one small segment of journalists.
While true, it's not that easy to look and sound natural, as opposed to wooden, like you're reading something. Also, not every reporter is attractive enough to be in front of the camera reading the news. There's a reason not every reporter becomes a news reader.
True.
Katie Couric doesn't have the gravitas of Walter Cronkite, but she manages to at least be attractive enough to get the viewer's attention and not so monotonous as to put you to sleep when reading from the teleprompter.
On that note Bob Schieffer should have retired 10 years ago.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
MRDOD wrote:If he speaks neither hebrew, yiddish, nor arabic, how will he talk to any side but the israeli ones who speak engli-
Oh. I see there.
Well, some of the Palestinians also speak English, though probably a lot better than him.
Maybe they could embed Joe with the IDF? Though wouldn't be very fair to the IDF or Hamas if they let him onto the frontlines.
Turns out that a five way cross over between It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Ali G Show, Fargo, Idiocracy and Veep is a lot less funny when you're actually living in it.
edit: should add some content I suppose since it's my thread; I have very little respect for journalists, however, they do go to school to learn how to be one. What is it with people who think an untrained person is every bit as qualified to do a job that a trained person is? For fucks sake, Joe the dipshit would be pissed at some 18 year old without a lick of plumbing experience, taking his jobs away from him (well if Joe had a plumbers license anyways).
I won't go as far as saying I hope something bad happens to him, but Mr. Joe the Journalist is about to get a very rude awakening and a chance at a big life lesson, unless he's catered to and protected by being away from the front and just does puff pieces.
This edit is really hilarious. If people would rather listen to (or watch) Joe the Plumber, how is he less qualified to be a journalist than some randomer who happens to have a journalism degree? Do you wish ill on 'unqualified' bloggers, on the basis that they're taking bread from the mouths of starving New York Times interns? Maybe he'll be rubbish and they'll get rid of him, otherwise what's the problem...
If people would rather listen to (or watch) Joe the Plumber, how is he less qualified to be a journalist than some randomer who happens to have a journalism degree?
So you define a person's skill in a particular field as his or her ability to find an audience? Faith healers must love you.
If people would rather listen to (or watch) Joe the Plumber, how is he less qualified to be a journalist than some randomer who happens to have a journalism degree?
So you define a person's skill in a particular field as his or her ability to find an audience? Faith healers must love you.
Faith healers generally are better at what they do than people who don't get gigs as faith healers. If people want to pay for quackery then that's their business. If you think Joe the Report is a quack then simply don't watch him.
Faith healers generally are better at what they do than people who don't get gigs as faith healers. If people want to pay for quackery then that's their business. If you think Joe the Report is a quack then simply don't watch him.
So the potential damage Joe here will do to people who don't know any better than to trust him is of no concern to you?
Faith healers generally are better at what they do than people who don't get gigs as faith healers. If people want to pay for quackery then that's their business. If you think Joe the Report is a quack then simply don't watch him.
So the potential damage Joe here will do to people who don't know any better than to trust him is of no concern to you?
What? Are you trying to say that if people try to impart views to others you disapprove of, they are 'dangerous' and ought to be suppressed? Sorry if I got that wrong, but are you some kind of nazi fruitcake?
I am saying that there are impartial standards of reporting that are taught to trained journalists, and to think that a person who has not had any training will provide reporting of the same standard as a trained journalist simply because he reaches an audience - an audience which chooses its reporters based on ideology, not merit - is extremely naive.
Are you trying to say that if people try to impart views to others you disapprove of, they are 'dangerous' and ought to be suppressed?
Ah yes, the old nugget "he disapproves ergo he wishes it to be suppressed". I won't stop Joe from going into Gaza and reporting on the situation there; for all we know he'll turn out to be a natural. But that doesn't mean he should automatically be granted the same weight as a trained reporter simply because he has an audience.
