Six Trends This Reporter Hates

This Reporter's Five Pet Peeves

CLICKBAIT ("You'll gasp when you see how this child actor looks today")

There are only three ways to pay for a web site--subscriptions, donations and advertisers (unless you count grants). Why do so many sites insult us with all three including clickbait? If we paid to subscribe and to get past a paywall, why are we still subjected to "WATCH--Stewardess wets her pants"? before and after our "content"?

I SAW, I REPORTED, I EMOTED journalism

There was a time when reporters were not part of the story they reported. By definition. They did not write, "After I long flight, I was able to interview John Doe," or how they "felt," and "worried" during their reporting adventure. Their filed their damn story. Once upon a time, reporting was objective and written in the third person, not "dear diary."

"HEALTH REPORTING" that is really an ad

How many times have you begun to read an article about fatigue or high blood pressure or insomnia or obesity and suddenly it segues into the "surprising" fact that a supplement or diet is your answer? Half the world seems to be duping people into a sales pitch by fanning health fears. Even some doctors have decided it's more lucrative to hawk "miracle" products.

HIDDEN CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

When you read a news or health story, you have the right to know if the writer and quoted people were paid to say what they said. Duh. Yet frequently, "disclosures" are hidden behind paywalls. Sometimes they are cryptified into initials--P.J. disclosed a relationship with Novo Nordsk--or a non-conflict is thrown in--P.J. disclosed a relationship with Emory University-- for confusion and to convey derision.

ASK YOUR DOCTOR ads

Since Ask Your Doctor ads debuted in 1998, American adults take four times as many prescription drugs as they did. Why? Because even though they may feel fine, the ads tell them they may have a silent disease and "sell" sickness. The long list of side effects--brain bleeds? Seizures? They help to sell product by putting people in a kind of trance. Ask Your Doctor ads have turned everyday citizens into unpaid drug reps.

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