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Ariana said:
I don't. It's just that we don't do this. We only provide news and we are required to be strictly factual. At first, when I started working here, my editor used to freak out over modal verbs, because they might change the facts. It was like an interrogation: "How did you know that? What's your source? Who said that? Where did you see this?" :lol: Sticking to facts and avoiding any form of speculation is rule number one.
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I actually admire this kind of work. Facts are the most important matters, not only in news but also in history. Many historians are purely writing from their own country's context, basically drawing an incomplete, thus wrong picture. The task of the historian is not to please people or to bow down to nationalistic traditions or teachings. Get the facts, that's what matters, draw an as complete picture as possible, or else a wrong context can be given.

So this is the core of all work, it's important, even if it can be boring.
 
I agree. It's just that sometimes you wish you could add extra context or content, which you are certain is totally suitable and you can't simply because it's not explicitly stated there. This can be very annoying.
 
Ariana said:
I don't. It's just that we don't do this. We only provide news and we are required to be strictly factual. At first, when I started working here, my editor used to freak out over modal verbs, because they might change the facts. It was like an interrogation: "How did you know that? What's your source? Who said that? Where did you see this?" :lol: Sticking to facts and avoiding any form of speculation is rule number one.That's why I always feel slightly uncomfortable to say I'm a journalist, because although I was hired as one, I don't feel like one.
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Be glad. Assuming that you might one day go on to write commentaries or even books, it is imperative that you stick to these things unless you clearly mark your opinion. There's nothing I hate it when authors mingle facts with their interpretation and opinion, and you can't really tell which is which. Suffering through a book like that right now, actually. As a passionate academic, that sort of thing feels like a deadly sin to me. Of course, I'm having the same problem when I write. My greatest fear academically is, that one day an unclear citation will break my back.

Nevertheless, when it comes to journalism, I like to read opinion pieces and commentaries the most. Especially when it's an opinion that I don't share, but it still is well-written and clearly sourced. It's always a challenge to read that. That's why I asked you, since you're both intelligent and sharp-witted, so I could imagine your commentaries to be great readings. (yeah, I know, disgusting brown-nosing :P)
 
Thanks. :blush:

Perun said:
My greatest fear academically is, that one day an unclear citation will break my back.
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I feel like I've spent half my life being taught how to source information, first at university and now at work. I'm pretty sure it's the same with you, it's a never-ending cycle of professors driving their students up the wall with endless sourcing issues and then those same students becoming professors and passing on the "correct-way-to-source" legacy to the next generation.
 
Yeah, tell me about it. For a while, there was absolutely nothing else in my studies. Looking back, I really am glad to have endured that, because it makes my work a lot easier for me. Many of my fellow students did not properly learn these things, and the way they are suffering from it is pitiful. Seriously. Taking three months to write six pages.
 
Somebody say 'hey!'

Only because I'm bored. I don't mind setting up most of these computers, but there are some configs that are just a huge pain and always require an hour of tweaking. And it shouldn't be like that. It should just work. :(

Well.... probably, I need to look at the install script and modify it (if I want to be honest)....
 
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