Unbelievable Arizona Republic help-wanted ad

PHXnews ^ | 08/06/03 | Craig J. Cantoni

[MickeysHangover]

Although hard to believe, the following ad appeared in the help-wanted section of yesterday's Arizona Republic:

Business Columnist Wanted

The Arizona Republic, a Gannett newspaper with a circulation of a half-million, has an immediate opening for a business columnist. The ideal candidate will have a journalism degree and at least ten years of experience with a big-city newspaper. It is not necessary to have an in-depth knowledge of economics, finance, statistics or the philosophical, moral and historical foundations of capitalism. Nor does the candidate need to know how to conduct research. It will be a plus, however, if the candidate believes in a planned economy, high taxes and socialized mass transit. Send resume with writing samples of single-syllable words and "See Spot run" sentences to Human Resources Manager, 200 E. Van Buren, Phoenix AZ 85004.

[MickeysHangover]

Classic!!!

[.cnI redruM]

Maybe they want to steal Paul Krugman from the NYT!

[dirtboy]

I checked out this claim, and no such ad is in the on-line version of the Arizona Republic, and that goes back 30 days.

[bedolido]

except for the degree, it sounds like most dims could qualify

[breakem]

seems like great satire of the papers columnist.

[martin_fierro]

MH omits the article's next sentence:

Just kidding. There really wasn't such an ad in the Republic. But there is a Republic business columnist who seems to fit the above qualifications. His name is Jon Talton.

[dirtboy]

It should be presented as such, not as being factual.

[MickeysHangover]

Read the rest of the article dirtboy, he explains your concerns.

Mickey

[ZGuy]

Here's the next paragraph of the story :

"Just kidding. There really wasn't such an ad in the Republic. But there is a Republic business columnist who seems to fit the above qualifications. His name is Jon Talton. "

[Drango]

Perhaps you should have posted the FULL article? You know, rather than misleading FReepers or forcing them to go to the link...

[dirtboy]

Read the rest of the article dirtboy, he explains your concerns.

Then post it as humor, and provide enough of an excerpt that we can see that without going to the link.

[Republican Red]

Read the next paragraph of the excerpted article...

Just kidding. There really wasn't such an ad in the Republic. But there is a Republic business columnist who seems to fit the above qualifications. His name is Jon Talton.

[breakem]

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Thge point of good satire is that readers understand it is satire. If you know the paper and its writers and then read the ad, it seems obvious.

[RikaStrom]

LOL, ouch! I like the way this writer thinks.

[MineralMan]

Yeah, it's classic alright. It's a classic example of leaving out the most important part here. The part where the article says that no such ad appeared.

It's a funny story. Why not post the whole thing? What's your point?

[MickeysHangover]

Sorry for the omit. This is what the Gannett family (USA Today) of papers do. They omit things important to the issue purely to advance their political objective.

Thx and sorry for the confusion.

[steplock]

Just below the ad...
"Just kidding. There really wasn't such an ad in the Republic. But there is a Republic business columnist who seems to fit the above qualifications. His name is Jon Talton."

I'm looking for the ORIGINAL work by Jon Talton that brought this on! THis is interesting, but need the other side.

[krb]

While I don't disagree with you, I find it intriguing that you went to the trouble of going to another website and searching for the job listing, but you didn't go to the trouble of reading the article.

[hometoroost]

A business associate of mine was complaining about an editorial in the Denver newspaper and how the editors really didn't understand the business they were talking about and they didn't have their facts straight.

The author of the article said basically the same thing I told my friend. The writers (not all of them but enough) don't understand and in many cases don't like business and they don't do their homework. Sad.

[dirtboy]

While I don't disagree with you, I find it intriguing that you went to the trouble of going to another website and searching for the job listing, but you didn't go to the trouble of reading the article.

I assumed the poster would provide a sufficient exerpt that such would be clear from reading it, or would post it as humor. Apparently that assumption was wrong. Folks here at FR continually vet anything that is posted, which is why FR is the best news source on the web - B.S. has a very, very short shelf life here.