It feels like “Basia and Me” is turning into a regular series on the blog.
Today we met the students who are studying to be journalists to discuss Ukraine. Basia prepared a PowerPoint presentation of great sophistication and intellectual insight. I prepared some funny stories about idiot journalists.
I started my talk by giving some examples of low-quality coverage of Ukraine but the contact with the audience that I usually enjoy simply wasn’t there.
“So what is it that you know about what is happening in Ukraine?” it finally occurred to me to ask.
“Nothing!” the students responded cheerfully.
“Do you know that something is happening?” I persisted.
“No!” the students responded with an even greater cheer.
Obviously, a person who glanced at a news website, held a newspaper or walked by a TV screen in the past year wouldn’t have missed the word “Ukraine” in the headlines. Journalism is a harsh, low-paying, extremely competitive career. It is an absolute mystery to me why people who have zero interest in journalism would want to study to become journalists.
Of course, after all this, Basia had to can her prepared talk and start all over again with the usual “Ukraine is a country. It’s a big country. Russia is also a country.”
Clarissa's Blog 
Okay, if you and Basia became stars of a weekly TV series in which you traverse the US of A together, would you be
a) bilking new widows out of their money with a “Your husband ordered a Bible” scam
or
b) solving random murder mysteries
or
c) trying to solve a puzzle involving UFOs, Rosicrucians(sp) and Sasquatch?
LikeLiked by 1 person
And the option of lecturing people on Ukraine is not even on the table?? š
LikeLike
A lecture tour could be
a) your cover and/or source of funding for living expenses as you bilk Russian immigrants with get rich quick schemes
b) the reason you’re travelling around (with murders that happen to take palce between lecture stops or before, during or after the presentations
c) the cover as you search for clues tying together the conspiracy involving Ukraine, UFOs, and ancient secret religious order and Sasquatch (and Zana! Abkhazia’s what, 500 miles from Ukraine?
LikeLike
z) the cover story Clarissa needs in order to observe the “proto-totalitarianisms of the newly socially aware” that involve the over-indulged university student, from the epicentre of where it’s becoming too horrible not to notice
[this space reserved for a lack of applause and “jazz hands” with moderately offensive finger puppets] š
LikeLike
I appear to have a knack of unmaking undergrad journos …
It starts innocently enough: I’m asked to be a copy editor for some thing that one of them’s working on, and I offer my skills. Weak starts become stronger, attributions to the infamous “they” become excised, and weasel words and other rude animals get caged.
As a result, the piece turns into something other than what it was, and starts to look like somewhat respectable journalism.
At this point the moral fibre of the person in question winds up being revealed inadvertently because of a choice of disclosure …
What happens by not disclosing that the person had some professional help is that there’s an expectation of being able to hit this mark again, and even with something as risible and quite frequently lousy as a student newspaper at a university, it becomes abundantly obvious that it will never, ever happen again.
The last person I did this to won an award from her university’s newspaper for the best article of the year — yes, it was in fact the article I helped dial up a few notches.
The last person I did this to eventually wound up having to find a job at a shopping mall where she interrupts people’s days so she can survey them for various ridiculous informational titbits.
Be very, very careful how you choose to help undergrad journos. š
[help is available, please insert 20p and stand by quietly for your eventual demise]
LikeLike
Gosh, it’s like dishonesty is the only professional skill that they master early and well.
LikeLike
On an unrelated topic …
It’s around Ā£24 for a same-day off-peak return ticket from Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford in July, so if you get your details finalised and pick a place for a gathering, I can probably make my way over from the West Country. I think the transfer to Oxford is at Didcot Parkway, which means I can also enjoy the Railway Museum if I have a bit of time …
Actually, this may fit in nicely with other things — I’ve been needing to visit there for some tangential research-related purposes …
http://www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/
(No, I’m not suggesting we meet up at Didcot Parkway — it’s otherwise one of the most boring stops you can make on the Great Western, unless you want to look at what’s left of the rather bleak power station that “belongs somewhere up north” …)
One bit of warning: any train trips out of London Paddington seem to have an “absurdity surcharge” tacked onto them around now, most likely because of the London Crossrail construction. Be warned that if you’ve priced the journey to Oxford from London via Network Rail out of Paddington before, you may be in for some sticker shock …
LikeLike
Yes, let’s meet and hang out for sure! I will be posting info closer to the day.
LikeLike
Where should I insert the 20p?
LikeLike
NOW GO.
LikeLike
(points to the pay-loo and flips a shilling in your general direction) š
Apparently the blog software likes eating my bracket comments.
JUST LIKE PAC-MAN GOBBLING UP 20p COINS [ahem] š
LikeLike
Also, you can use a 20p coin at most laundrettes here to start your “Broke A$$ Game Show” version of laundrette bingo. š
Go find the video for that, it’s hilarious.
LikeLike
(also, I believe I don’t have a password to look at your Oxford trip stuff, and that you may in fact also have my red stapler š )
LikeLike