More Wind Power Industry Stuff & Nonsense from East County Magazine

[MineralMan]

17. I don't think the writers for that so-called publication are

paid at all. I could be wrong, but that's my understanding. Perhaps someone will confirm that for us. There are a lot of websites that pass as news sources that use unpaid writers. Professional journalists are paid for their work. That's the "professional" part. I know this, because I worked as a paid professional journalist for almost three decades. Sometimes I was not particularly well-paid, but sometimes I was paid handsomely.

Journalism is a profession, with standards. Presenting factual information is one of those standards. It is the most basic of those standards. Where there is no concern for facts, there is no journalism. There is something made up of words, but it is not journalism. And that applies to people who are paid to write, as well. If they write unfactual crap, they are not journalists at all. They are simply writers of words.

Facts are fundamental. Fact-checking is integral to all journalism. If it is not present, there is no journalism.