The MSM: It’s Hard to Be “Green”
The Mainstream Media (MSM) – geez, you just gotta love that commitment to the environment!
Reporting is hard work. It sometimes means you have to do some leg work and fact checking – like background research, follow-ups, calling people, and (gulp!) sometimes even go somewhere and interview sources.
But all of that takes time. And all of it – particularly the background research and travel – can be really bad for the environment.
So in the spirit of going green, some members of the MSM are truly into “green” reporting, such as low-impact writing and recycling. It’s critically important to help preserve Mother Earth/Gaia, you know.
Of course, some old fogies just don’t understand the concept of green reporting. They have mean, pejorative names for it. They actually call low-impact writing MSU (“making sh*t up”). And they call recycling “plagiarism”. Those bastards!
Such heartless meanies. They’ve even made serious trouble for many reporters who were simply trying to save the planet because of those efforts. Just look at Janet Cook – who received the Pulitzer Prize for a primo example of low-impact writing – but gave it back, doubtless under duress Or Christopher Newton, who wrote over 40 stories in the early 2000s of the same type, saving God only knows how many tons of pollution through avoiding travel, phone calls, interviews, and fact-checking. Or Jason Blair, who did the same at the New York Times. And there are any number of other, similar incidents throughout the last 30 years or so. All they were trying to do was reduce the environmental impact of their work. And they got crucified for trying to save the planet. Crucified!
And Blair was also bigtime into saving the planet through recycling. (Those unenlightened meanies call it plagiarism, but hey – they”re simply not “thinking green”, remember?) Blair recycled extensively in his work. And now we have the current example of Fareed Zakaria, of Time/CNN/Washington Post, who’s just shown everyone he’s truly green by doing the same. But they – and countless others – paid a heavy price for their work on behalf of all of us. They got hammered by “the man” when they were simply trying to save the planet!
Hey, recycling like that really cuts down on the environmental impact of writing a story! (Just remember not to do too many Google searches.)
All eventually got called on the carpet for their heroic acts by those mean old fogies who insist on some things they call “accuracy” and “professional standards”. But we all know that was simply unfair and shortsighted. After all: those heroes were simply trying to do whatever they could to save the planet. What’s a little . . . cutting corners or stretching things when the planet’s future is at stake!
In fact, they need our help today! Free Fareed Zakaria! Free Fareed Zakaria! Free Fareed Zakaria! Free Fareed . . . .
(Just in case anyone missed the obvious: yes, the above article is definitely sarcasm. And the idea that the IT industry is bad for the environment is absolute bullshit, too. The IT industry has been a huge net plus for mankind environmentally, enabling virtually everything to be done with far less use of resources than would be possible otherwise.)
Category: Media
Well said. Theft is, well, theft, FFS.
Glad to see Fareed given the boot. he’s been deserving of that for quite awhile nwo.
“Free Fareed Zakaria”, alright. Since he’s already freed himself from anything resembling responsibility, let him be also freed from influencing anyone else.
Putz!!
Joe Biden enjoyed “creative” writing.
I wholly agree with you, Hondo!
I sit in the development end of the IT world and don’t deal too much in infrastructure, but when I look at the differences between the size and scope (and power consumption) of web farms/data centers now vs. 15 years ago (let alone 30 years ago), you couldn’t find a more rapid transition to supposed leafy greenery in another industry.
As far as the meat of the article, it troubles me greatly that its the bastions of erudite journalism producing these folks that enjoy the cutting of corners in such a way. I think bloggers are far more likely to source their materials than journalists, yet another reason why these fellows look upon “new media” with such disdain…we usually do it better.
BK: the IT industry has had an incredibly greater impact than more/better data centers on the world during the last 30 years. Any vehicle produced in the last 25 or 30 years almost certainly has a computer-controlled engine; the combustion chamber for same, as well as the structural and aerodynamic design was probably largely done with computational assistance. Airliners can now be fully designed with little or no wind tunnel testing required due to advances in computer technology, and are also hugely more fuel efficient, largely for the same reason. Shipping schedules are move efficient, and just-in-time resupply is now the industry norm vice a pipe dream. Automatons (robots) do much factory work, and do it more efficiently and with gar greater precision than former manual processes. Long-distance, low-latency broadband communications enables centralized control of various industrial and other processes at widespread locations. The bottom line is that, without IT (which includes related microelectronics), the world would use much more of all forms of resources to maintain half the lifestyle we do today.
Now that Forehead Zacharia has been released to pursue other things, he can step up as O’s next Secretary of State. At least that’s what some on the left have been pushing, up until this minor embarrassment.
Hondo – picking a couple of small nits…. paper consumption has actually increased with easy availability of printers (print this – oh, damn, I didn’t notice that – print again – and again – and again). JIT is largely a myth – SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE has to hold inventory; JIT is like inventory turns, a polite fiction to push the hard and dirty parts of manufacturing up-stream. And of course I have to question whether ‘half the lifestyle we have today’ is necessarily so wonderful? Epidemic obesity, anxiety, and midless thrashing after the latest i{Pad or smartphone…. is that really quality of life? I’m not fundamentally disagreeing with you (and as a matter of fact have been involved in electronics manufacturing for over 20 years) but in many ways do not see or believe the ‘fabulous progress’ that has been made in my admittedly over-long lifetime. Too many of hese advances seem to be changes merely for the sake of doing something different, sold to us by people marketing the ‘newest thing’.
Perhaps Zakaria wanted to honor the historical beginnings of journalism in America such as existed around the revolution…lies were told as fact on a daily basis all across the colonies…
Or perhaps he’s just a lazy turd who figured he was to big to be caught. I always enjoy the weak 4ss apologies afterwards, he admitted to a serious lapse that was entirely his fault…so I guess he is sorry now that he has been caught. It would be nice if a few more of these folks would be sorry before they got caught and just not be liars and thieves, but that appears to be asking a bit much these days.
Fareed got caught, huh? I wondered how long that would take.
Can we do the same thing with instupid?