Pleasant Surprise

Mediabistro.com is one of the cardinal sites I check for jobs, I also have a resume posted there as should any freelancer. They recently ran this story. I got a lovely surprise today, the bleary eyed ramble I wrote at two in the moring last week was published in the letters to the editor page. You can see it here, it's the second from the top.

I want to comment on the other two letters that so vehemently disagree with Mr. Lindsay, but it seems they are a lost cause.

Edit: Who am I kidding, I have to comment:

An open letter to the editors of Mediabistro.com: was Greg Lindsay's condescending rant about j-school really worth 2,000 words?

Lindsay seems to have missed one of the cardinal rules of journalism: be concise. Being accurate couldn't hurt, either. I'm in the graduate program at NYU. At least one professor, Jay Rosen, has his own blog. In my magazine writing class this semester, each person in my class kept a blog and updated it three times a week. (You can read our blog at journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/theoryb.) Each week, a professional journalist spoke to our 10-person class, because our professor, Adam Penenberg, is quite aware that "It's who you know, not what you know."

I don't know when Lindsay graduated from j-school, but I think he's been saving up this rambling, rudderless rant ever since. The essay wanders from French philosophers to Spy magazine to some poor undergraduate intern who got beat up on Romanesko. [sic] (Yes, Mr. Lindsay, I do read Romanesko.) But he doesn't make any clear point other than "rebellion is fun." Next time, if he wants to write about what's going on in journalism schools, maybe he should try some actual reporting first.

Hannah Clark

"I'm in the graduate program at NYU."
And there is your bias. At least have the decency to be honest about it.

"Adam Penenberg, is quite aware that 'It's who you know, not what you know.'"
Which is exactly the sentiment Lindsay was talking about. The entitlement is strong with this one. The fact that Hannah buys into this culture of nepotism and bootlicking assures me of two things, A) she completely missed the point of the letter and B) she will never take any risks in the pursuit of good writing.

I really hope she enjoys treading that neatly trimmed path that people like me, Lindsay, or anyone else with a grain of integrity have carved out for her. Some of us prefer to go screaming into the woods.

"But he doesn't make any clear point other than 'rebellion is fun.'"
Actually, he made quite a few solid points that so obviously swooshed over her head. The dangers of comfort and entitlement being one, and the decline of j-school's relevance. You would think that j-school would teach one to be an astute reader? That's quite a sum of money to throw down without basic reading comprehension.

The fact is that rebellion is fun and worthwhile to boot. Hannah should try it sometime.


I sincerely hope Hannah reads this, I think it would fun to read her rebuttal.