32 pound 10 year old girl rescued from closet in Kansas City. Two other siblings

[LiberalEsto]

34. I wouldn't hold my breath about news "professionals" studying English grammar

College English departments don't have that many students these days, except for basic required courses.

When I went to college in 1969 with the goal of becoming a journalist, I was advised by faculty members to major in English so that I would learn to write well. Other suggested majors for would-be journalists were history and political science. In those days it was possible to become a news reporter with little more than on-the-job training. Journalism and Communications degrees weren't necessary. I had a co-worker who was hired as a reporter with only a two-year associate's degree.

The advice I received worked, and I had a great career as a newspaper reporter. But over the years the newspaper industry got too corporatized, interested only in the financial bottom line and caring not at all about great reporting and writing.

Many newspapers were shut down, and the only people hired were those with journalism or communications degrees. It didn't matter if they could barely write, as long as they toed the corporate line and wrote only what they were told to write. Copy editors and computer spell checking were supposed to take the place of knowing how to write well.

More recently, papers laid off most of their copy editors to save money, and this is why we see the gibberish that passes for reporting today.