Poor Writing Plagues the Pages of Technician

submitted by Maugan on Tuesday, November 28 2000 at 5:15 PM

Now I don't pretend to be some Pulitzer Prize level writer. I don't even think that I have what it takes to keep the average WolfWeb reader's attention for more than a few sentences. But then again, I don't write for a daily student newspaper.

When I sit down at the Student Center with my 3 Bean Burritos and my Technician every Monday, I expect to find at least ONE article in the whole damn paper that peaks my interests. I enjoy several topics, and have a variety of interests. I however, find it a constant uphill struggle to find anything worth while to read in that publication (specifically the Opinion section). Take for instance, one of today's opinion articles. "Go Ahead and Dance" the title of the article.
Here is the article for your reading pleasure

Now I'm not one to belittle the interests of other people, but the fact of the matter is, the poor girl who wrote this, hopelessly tries to tie together each concert that she has attended to how they are a tool of procrastination.

This is the kind of crap that I am sick of reading about. The Opinion section should be a section with opinions on issues that matter to the student body. It shouldn't be a forum for meandering, scatterbrained, hopeless justifications of why some chick put off that paper to the last second.

I've read some good stuff in the Tech, and this wasn't meant to detract from those well-written pieces of journalism. I just wish that the editors would find this drivel and recognize that really, nobody cares about the crap.

posted by Joe on Tuesday, November 28 2000 at 9:51 PM

i just finished a letter to the forum.....i wonder if they will post it

11/28/2000 10:22:23 PM

Maugan, good points. But you are the most negative mofo i know!

11/28/2000 10:29:18 PM

On the internet I am.

Theres just so much that I see that bothers me.

I'm really a happy person
promise.

11/28/2000 10:41:37 PM

The Technician takes what it can get as far as writers.. The lack of quality literature is due to the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the student body.

11/28/2000 10:47:34 PM

Quote:

"There's no T in team."

oops I subconciously corrected the typo from the Technician that I was trying to point out

[Edited by bartleby on 11/28/2000 at 11:05:55 PM. Reason: oops]

11/28/2000 10:53:44 PM

but there is a me

11/28/2000 10:57:14 PM

sorry.....that bull crap..look at todays edition...what the hell is in there that even pertains to interesting things. Sorry..can't blame it on us students, they get paid to write those articles. Cant depend on students enthusiasm....its a job


deck

11/28/2000 11:37:38 PM

there's also a MEAT

I think his name is rivers

11/28/2000 11:47:32 PM

I concur. And it's seems like a lot of the writers are trying to score points with the elders in charge by taking stances against drinking and sex and so forth.
But what can you expect from a school with no journalism dept.?

11/29/2000 12:10:36 AM

They get paid?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is an outrage!!!!!!!! I can't believe it-- And most of you are correct...most of the articles are nonsense and space-fillers!

Especially Rhett McLaughlin(spelling?)...I can't believe the crap they let him publish!

11/29/2000 1:00:03 AM

I've thought the same thing all along, how bad does the Technician suck...

11/29/2000 1:05:15 AM

isnt that why they call them the editorials?

11/29/2000 3:24:51 AM

you know, i almost started to take up for the opinions section of the technician. after all, it is usually the first part of the paper that i read every day. then i realized...lately, the opinion articles SUCK! i am doing good if i even read beyond the first paragraph. i realize that it must be hard to generate new and exciting opinion articles all the time, but do these guys have a quota of opinions they must produce? otherwise, why the hell do they write such crap week after week? someone should write an opinion article on the opinion articles!

11/29/2000 10:56:53 AM

Rachael Overcash also just writes drivel. Every other article is the same. . .

"The other day, I was spending a beautiful Saturday afternoon studying for my [insert class here] class, when I realized that my life was passing me by. I went out and looked at a pretty bird and a pretty tree.

Sometimes we get caught up in our schoolwork too much. So the next time you are stressed out, go outside. Look at the trees. Enjoy, for life is a thing to be enjoyed."

OK, I can see where she is coming from, but I discovered that by the time I was ten years old. If you're not having fun, do something fun.

Oh yeah, and I'm about sick of this "society forces girls who are not perfect to hate themselves" crap. The point is valid, but I dont need to read it every week.

11/29/2000 11:58:50 AM

I'm glad that I'm not alone on this issue.

I was honestly scared that there would be a backlash of Pro-Technician readers that would scar me for life.

11/29/2000 12:07:16 PM

they get $10 an article.....i asked the editor about writing for them....MOTIVATION HUH.....

11/29/2000 12:33:13 PM

The opinion page is just that. Some stuff on there is crap. Other stuff gets published on the university wire every now and then. No doubt the Technician is not the product of a group of hardcore journalists. The writers that are dedicated and passionate about their work shine through. You can't judge a paper by it's opinion page though.
The core Technician staff is a group of truly dedicated individuals they work hard and take up the slack for their writers. Graphically our paper is a pleasure to look through, lets face it though, State doesn't have a ton of Journalism majors begging to write. The Technician is student media just like WKNC, the Nubian Message, etc. STUDENT Media, if you dont like it, empower yourself and get involved.

[Edited by EyeVariety on 11/29/2000 at 2:15:41 PM. Reason: .]

[Edited by EyeVariety on 11/30/2000 at 1:29:54 AM. Reason: .]

11/29/2000 2:15:03 PM

Ever heard of critics?

They judge everthing before them, and don't get empowered to get involved.

11/30/2000 9:29:28 AM

yeah, i have to agree about the opinion column. the only decent articles i ever find a little interesting are the one's from kelly marks. i know ive seen articles from her for a couple of years now and she seems to be about the best they have when it comes to that area. hey eyevariety, was that your drawing in today's technician?

11/30/2000 9:05:11 PM

I guess it's time for mee to add my two cents.

Yes, I was the op/ed editor over the summer. Yes, I was an assistant op/ed editor for all of about 5 weeks this year. And I quit. Do you want to know why?

For every reason that you guys have posted, I have two of my own. The reason that the op/ed page sucks is NOT because of lack of student interest (we had more writers than we knew what to do with), but because of the self-centered, egotistical, as****e who runs the op/ed department. This person takes editing to an entirely new level: editing out entire sentences that provide the meat of an argument, inserting AP mistakes because of a "house style" decision on a whim, and because the writers who ARE writing now are not allowed to write on whatever they want. There are now strict guidelines that define what topics can be discussed, etc..

THIS IS NOT JOURNALISM. Excuse me for being a free-thinking, egalitarian interested in opening the minds of fellow students and providing an unfettered forum for open discourse on ALL sides of the issues...but I am. And that is why I quit. I haven't read Technician since 10.01.00 and until the current staff graduates/drops out/jumps in front of the Wolfline, I don't intend to.

>^..^<

[Edited by meeyoww on 12/2/2000 at 5:52:18 PM. Reason: slander woes. sigh.]

11/30/2000 10:47:14 PM

Sorry weatherguy, Kelly Marks writes some pretty uninteresting drivel too.

12/1/2000 10:53:15 AM

What Maugan said. Kelly Marks's articles are not annoying, but after I'm done reading I think "why the hell did I read that? and why did she write it in the first place." It's just a stream of conciousness.

Like Lewis Black, except not funny.

12/1/2000 11:03:49 AM

okay, yeah...ill agree with you two about her columns. its sad that she could be the one of the best they have in the opinion section though.

12/1/2000 11:55:58 AM

meeyoww - if the oped editor is Richard Morgan (as technicianonline.com states), I can totally see how that could make that section of the paper go straight to hell. Isn't he the one who is trying to turn "Technician" into "The Daily God?" What is his agenda? Is he trying to convert me through the damn school newspaper or something? Each of his articles incorporates God, Christianity and the Bible. And like an idiot, I keep reading the articles because I don't see the word 'God' in the first paragraph, and then I get 2/3 of the way through it, and BAM!, surprise, there's God again.

12/1/2000 1:27:54 PM

Ding, ding, ding!

We have a winner.

Yes, the hypochristian himself is the op/ed editor.

>^..^<

12/1/2000 2:41:31 PM

As a writer Richard is the exact opposite of the evangelistic individual you describe. No doubt there is far too much religon on the opinion page but Richard's is open minded and non-instructional. He only tries to make his readers aware of the morals and ideals that he lives by.
As an editor he does not press his religon on his writers (or cartoonists .) The articles in the paper are the product of their writers not the editors.

12/3/2000 4:27:59 PM

Eye-

Until you have "been there, done that, got the t-shirt", don't tell me what IS and ISN'T done in the op/ed department. Although your post makes a great PR campaign for Richard, it's not true.

>^..^<

12/4/2000 2:12:35 PM

I suppose its all just a matter of opinion then. Im sorry that you have had bad experience with him. Personally I'm agnostic and Richard never bothers me.

Dont call me eye

12/5/2000 10:17:52 AM