I stumbled across a piece in the opinion section of The Times which I found reasonable and amusing. The columnist, Timothy Egan, wrote on how ridiculous it is that "Joe the Plumber" will release a book this month, on December 1oth, called "Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream".
Since I have been thinking frequently over the course of the semester about the definition of good journalism, or writing, I found Egan's thoughts interesting.
Egan said, "Publishers: with all the grim news of layoffs and staff cuts at the venerable houses of American letters, can we set some ground rules for these hard times? Anyone who abuses the English language on such a regular basis should not be paid to put words in print."
I think that as we've discussed what good journalism is, that all kinds of writing should be included. No matter what kind of writing one does (persuasive, investigative, narratives, novels, journalism, poetry, etc) only the good should be printed.
On a different note, I feel like the media is partly to blame for the new found fame of "Joe the Plumber". The media gorged themselves on his poorly-weaved story. They allowed politicians to make him close to an American icon. Samuel J. Wurzelbacher (Joe), has failed to pay his taxes and does not hold the adequate credentials to even be a plumber.
The press should have acted appropriately in the beginning, by doing a little investigative journalism. Once they uncovered this information on Wurzelbacher, they could have ended the charade. While this is America and everyone has the freedom and opportunities to do whatever they want, that does not mean they should, especially when it comes to writing.
Source: Typing Without a Clue
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