Seems I struck a nerve with my Foolish column about the Web of Lies. No one figured out how to mail in a tip using snail mail, but here’s what readers had to say electronically.
Webless reporting tool
There’s this thing that once upon a time had a round thing on it with holes in it. And in the holes were numbers and letters. If you inserted your finger in the right hole and moved the round thing clockwise and did it often enough and in the right order you got to speak to an actual person and then you could ask that actual person an actual question. It was what we once upon a time called “reporting.”
That thing that had the round thing on it has been replaced by a thing with a bunch of buttons on it that have numbers and letters on them. If you PUSH them in the right order and the right number of times you get to that actual person. Even though the instrument has changed, the act of using it as described above is still called “REPORTING.”
Oddly enough, it still works.
Jeff Gralnick
NBC News Executive in Charge of The News on CNBC
Teachers know this too
In one freshman composition course, I had to call five students on the carpet (a hot seat, with penalties pending and parents present!) for plagiarizing, and two for using personal opinion pages posing as authorities as resources. This after explaining in detail (1) what plagiarism is and (2) how to verify a reliable source. I couldn’t believe how many “war information” sources are posing as part of the armed services or the government agencies. I couldn’t believe either that my students were unaware how easy it was for me to “Google” their plagiarisms. Young people simply don’t realize the web, the media, and the world are alike in being places one should be wary, always.
Derlyne Gibson
Fellow born-again Luddite
As a dyed-in-the-wool geeky writer, I am lately feeling the need to disconnect from my computer and experience the real world by doing things the ‘old-fashioned way. I fear that there is now a whole generation that has never reported in the ‘old-fashined’ way. Imagine, actually talking to a source or touching the surface that the text you are reading is printed on! Or taking notes with a pen/pencil and paper!
Yes! Long live dead-tree editions, though I would prefer mine to be dead-hemp.
Marie Cochran
SUBMIT YOUR TIPS FOR PUBLICATION
- What websites do you find handy? Send them to:
poynter (at) jondube.com
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