"I'm confident the standards to which we hold ourselves and our work will distinguish us..."

Kate at Small Dead Animals is in a juxtaposting type of mood.

She links to a journalism student at the University of Georgia (Grady College):

Claire Rock, journalism major - "Bloggers no replacement for the pros"

Personally, I get a kick out of the true ironic ignorance of young people today. I say that as a blogger with a Journalism Degree.

Where's the irony, you ask? Well, Grady College, which actually has a rather solid reputation for teaching journalism as well as advertising and public relations, has conformed their curriculum to include the world of electronic gizmos and gadgets. Here's a listing of blogs held by Grady College staff just to get you started.


Claire Rock opines in her gripe du jour that:

Many blogs facilitate discussion of important public issues and are positive additions to the marketplace of ideas. But many feature banter - often biased or untruthful - that skews public understanding.

I would have to agree. For example, how about this Grady College staffer:

Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein
I'm a professor of new media in the Grady College at the University of Georgia. I am pursuing funding for addressing climate change using the new medium of interactive television as well as other research projects.

Biased? Untruthful?...Skews public understanding? You be da Judge. My favorite is the correlation between Global Warming and Kidney stones.

Claire drops the golden egg right here:

I'm confident the standards to which we hold ourselves and our work will distinguish us, and professional journalism, from the clutter and chatter of the Internet.

It sure will, and has. Oh...wait...

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- The New York Times Co. agreed to sell the space it occupies in its Manhattan headquarters for $225 million to pay debt as print advertising revenue declines.

It isn't just the internet and the concept of "immediate gratification" that is killing print media. It is the outright bias and agenda driven editing. It is the opinionated tweaking that infests hard news stories. It is the constant spiking of stories detrimental to the "cause."

It is journalism professors at Grady College using a college server to promote unproven views on global warming while soliciting funds to propogate those same views. It is journalism students admiring their new white sneakers while standing in a big pit of mud and paying for the privilege as those along the edge of the pit point and laugh.