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  2. Journalism is Hard
June 20, 2026 at 1:05 PM

Journalism is Hard

Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr.
@BartholomewXerxesOgilvieJr

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Join to bookmark21likesJoin to like19comments

Poking around on my hard drive, I came across a collection of screen captures I grabbed over the years while perusing various fine online news outlets.


I think that's what happens when you've been working too late and you fall asleep at the keyboard.


If you're concerned that your ants are too young, Fergie (whoever that is) has the answer!


I once took a news editing class, in which we were given rough drafts of news stories to edit. A misspelling of a proper name would cost you 25 points. And any error that occurred in a headline cost double.


Finally, a real "show about nothing"!

I love the idea of a show called Celebrity Appearance. I imagine the celebrities just walking onstage and waving while the crowd applauds.


Sadly, the War on Terror and Democrats is still going on.


Handy tip for the holidays and/or Election Day:


Career guidance you can trust:

(OK, in fairness, that one's an ad, so I can't really blame the journalists.)


I assume that, of the two, the cancer was worse. After all, he's still married.


I'm not sure I would recommend having a pet lawyer, not if your only previous experience as a pet owner is with a hamster.


There is no record of what Nebraska was doing, but it must have been pretty annoying.


Writing the perfect photo caption, part 1:


Writing the perfect photo caption, part 2:


Unexpected effects of economic uncertainty:


And I close with a case of seriously unfortunate ad placement. Read the last paragraph of the news story that went with this ad:

This post was promoted to the Main Feed at the recommendation of Ricochet's members.

Discussion (19)

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    Sandra Blondie Bright@Blondie·16w

    These are great. Sometimes I wonder if there are any editors at all on the local news sites. I'm no English major and certainly no grammarian, but their stories are unreadable at times.

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    EODmom@EODmom·16w
    ReplyingtoSandra Blondie Bright

    Sandra Blondie Bright (View Comment):

    These are great. Sometimes I wonder if there are any editors at all on the local news sites. I’m no English major and certainly no grammarian, but their stories are unreadable at times.

    No. All gone somewhere. Now I suspect a large % are just AI. No one reads them before publishing.

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    Full Size Tabby@FullSizeTabby·16w
    ReplyingtoSandra Blondie Bright

    Sandra Blondie Bright (View Comment):

    These are great. Sometimes I wonder if there are any editors at all on the local news sites. I’m no English major and certainly no grammarian, but their stories are unreadable at times.

    Or even some of the prominent national sites. The grammatical and spelling errors (I too am no grammarian) do often make the stories difficult to read.

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    Full Size Tabby@FullSizeTabby·16w

    Actually, it can be hard to write news that cannot be misinterpreted.

    I am a lawyer (now retired). I was throughout my career astonished to discover the many ways language I had written and I thought was clear (I wrote a lot of business contracts) could be read in ways that I did not anticipate.

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    Andrew Troutman@Dotorimuk·16w

    This is a fun new genre!

    Can I add one I took from You Tube? Woman who looks like Paul McCartney:

    Screenshot
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