Dear conscientious writers and would-be writers: This is what you get with your Journalism degree, i.e., a lifetime membership to the “pravda club.” And it’s really a CLUB, too! To beat people with!
If you value your craft as a writer, GO GALT on the writing establishment. Make your living in another profession and write like h3ll in your spare hours.
Here’s a fun visualization for anyone entertaining trying to “work in journalism” - Even if you are a straight-up reporter and have no interest in so-called creative or imaginative writing, you will have written something “from the heart” at some point in your life, an expression of belief or passion, a fantasy, poetry, or what-have-you.
Holding that in mind - haha, it might already be a little painful, right? because not very good but it was YOU - try to remember how offended and hurt you were when someone read this passionate piece and mocked it, tried to “fix” it, or outright plagiarized it.
Sure, that’s all part of being a writer, is it not? Letting the experts crap all over your stuff, letting everybody “fix” it and criticize it and so on. But you never forget the initial shock of seeing someone edit your best work and turn it into a slovenly, meaningless, miasma of words.
Okay, now that you’re experiencing that, extend that feeling of hurt and offense - that will never quite go away - into the future and seeing these editors cut into your work until you can’t recognize it, or force you to eliminate meaning from it, or penalize you for being too truthful, or simply appropriate whatever is good about it and say that they did it.
Think of how hard it will be in the future to place any kind of value on craft or truthfulness, when you think back to your initial days of writing and how proud and forceful you were compared to the dead-eyed lackey of the Left you’ll eventually (or quickly!) turn into.
It’s not worth it. Go Galt on the writing establishment and be a free man or woman. You will actually gain influence as a writer by staying out of the meat grinder.
Also, everyone I ever knew who wanted to be a writer - esp to go into journalism - turned into a first-class a$$hole after a short time. At first the person would be saying things about how hateful all the other writers are, then s/he either goes nuts or turns into a first-class a$$hole him/herself. It never fails. (And then they’re a first-class a$$hole who shouts “BUY MY BOOK” at you until you become anti-book.)
The only difference between a Science Fiction writer and a journalist is that the science fiction writer is obliged to stay within the realm of possibility...........