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Raquel has a job as a reporter


salex

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So I called.

“Hi, I was wondering if the newspaper was hiring,” I asked in a breathless rush. Part of me was sure the answer would be negative, while the other half of me waited with hopeful anticipation.

“Yes, as a matter of fact. We are in need of a writer.”

Seriously, never happened.

“Oh yes, hello. I meant to call you this weekend, but my schedule got rather busy, I’m afraid. May I call you back this afternoon when I’m free?”

Really seriously, never happened

She says that:

In honor of my new job, I wanted to show some respect to legendary journalists who I have always admired and who have been inspirations to me in my writings. Real life ones and fictional... ;)

- Ernest Hemingway

- Martha Gellhorn (later, Martha Heminway)

- E. B. White

- Joseph Pulitzer

- Barbara Walters

I'd be really surprised if this list came from anything other than a google search. Does she know anything about Hemingway, and even assuming she knows about his reportage, has she ever read one of his novels? Does she know the Hemingway and Martha lived together for years while he was still married to another woman?

And then, "While married to Hemingway, Gellhorn had an affair with US paratrooper Major General James M. Gavin, commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division. Gavin was the youngest divisional commander in the US army in World War II

Has she read Martha's anti-McCarthyism novel?

Has she ever even read anything by E.B.White, much less in context?

Does she know anything about Joseph Pulitzer except the prize? His partisanship? His competition with Hearst? How that affected American journalism?

Suspect she has in fact heard of Barbara Walters. And only for the sad later stuff that she doesn't see on TV anyway, but not when BW was fierce and to be taken seriously.

(And BTW, broke ground because she became the first major female anchor instead of being a helpmeet."

If these people are really this woman's journalistic ideas, I'll happily eat crow.

I saw that list and the list of fictional journalists which included Skeeter Phelan from The Help. Raquel did a movie review of The Help and said she was like Skeeter. I laughed at back then.

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Between the reference to including her blog link and the fact that the office is closed on Sunday, I'm betting this is some type of religious "newspaper."

Also, lol at her stiff, boring, and completely unbelievable story of how she got this "job."

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I would love to know what kind of "newspaper" it is Daily? Weekly? How big is the subscription base? What does she report about? I can't comment on her blog because I don't have any of those accounts, but I'm dying to know. It's hard enough for educated, seasoned writers to get "reporter" jobs.

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Between the reference to including her blog link and the fact that the office is closed on Sunday, I'm betting this is some type of religious "newspaper."

Also, lol at her stiff, boring, and completely unbelievable story of how she got this "job."

I thought her "got my dream job" story was one of her "fictionals" at first read.

could also be a monthly or weekly publication

here is a christian monthly near her location

cnnw.com/

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I would love to know what kind of "newspaper" it is Daily? Weekly? How big is the subscription base? What does she report about? I can't comment on her blog because I don't have any of those accounts, but I'm dying to know. It's hard enough for educated, seasoned writers to get "reporter" jobs.

Could be on a freelance basis. Anyone reviewing a gig/play, for example, could potentially get paid by a local mag/fanzine for doing it, even though they didn't have traditional qualifications in journalism. It's not a fortune though, and I doubt she could live off it as a full time career.

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Could be on a freelance basis. Anyone reviewing a gig/play, for example, could potentially get paid by a local mag/fanzine for doing it, even though they didn't have traditional qualifications in journalism. It's not a fortune though, and I doubt she could live off it as a full time career.

She can live on it because her parents support her financially. Soooo... it pays for her slave coffee.

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Well it is an actual newspaper. I am shocked because even my tiny town newspaper doesn't hire writers like this. Does the owner know how to use google so they could see they were hiring a serial plagiarist who is also racists and homophobic?

http://www.thechiefnews.com/news/articl ... 652ea.html

Wow. I felt so much secondhand embarrrassment reading this sack of crap. There's a typo in the title AND the first freakin' sentence. It was truly terrible. I'm just shaking my head at this.

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Wow. I felt so much secondhand embarrrassment reading this sack of crap. There's a typo in the title AND the first freakin' sentence. It was truly terrible. I'm just shaking my head at this.

Wow indeed. That was painful. I am still not convinced she is an actual reporter and did not just do this "interview" and submit it to the paper. And having had a class in writing interviews, that was a poor interview. Raquel, if she had real drive, could be a reporter for real, maybe...if she went to college and got a B.A in English and/or Journalism and/or Communications. This shows her lack of skills greatly and proves why real newspapers hire those with degrees and not those with a homeschool GED and not any classes in writing.

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Wow. I felt so much secondhand embarrrassment reading this sack of crap. There's a typo in the title AND the first freakin' sentence. It was truly terrible. I'm just shaking my head at this.

More creative punctuation in this headline

After years of service ... and, retirement, K-9 dies

thechiefnews.com/news/article_7d79dc74-6c15-11e4-b4bf-4b3f5f15d310.html

So, how long will she last? Will the job be there when she returns from Peru?

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Wow. I felt so much secondhand embarrrassment reading this sack of crap. There's a typo in the title AND the first freakin' sentence. It was truly terrible. I'm just shaking my head at this.

This paper looks very much like my own local paper, also a weekly.

My paper is similarly full of typos and grammar errors as well as actuall typesetting and printing errors.

As a semi-professional proofreader, I have tried to get the editor of my paper to permit me to proof it, with no success. I've even offered to do it for free. His concern is mostly his rushed schedule on the day before he goes to press. I've told him "give me what you have when you go home Tuesday night, and when you arrive at work Wednesday morning I will have sent you however much I was able to read" -- my thought was that even if I didn't read the whole paper, or even if he has breaking news he adds on Wednesday morning right before presstime, at least SOME of the paper would have been proofed! But he hasn't taken me up on that offer and in the last few years I stopped trying.

I had to just accept that in small towns and with small papers like these, no one really cares if there are mistakes (well, except for those of us who do care, but it doesn't seem to affect anyone's choice to read the paper or buy the paper or advertise in the paper, and I guess that's all that matters). Yes, I SMH in sympathy here...

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War veteran, Arnie Sundberg served 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and was wounded twice.

A year after being born in Portland, Ore. on April 19, 1941, his family moved to Clatskanie.

Hey, Miss Raquel--one of your spare commas got loose and wandered into that first sentence there.

And the family moved to Clatskanie a year after it was born? Good to know. (Oy, the modifiers--they dangle.)

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Well it is an actual newspaper. I am shocked because even my tiny town newspaper doesn't hire writers like this. Does the owner know how to use google so they could see they were hiring a serial plagiarist who is also racists and homophobic?

http://www.thechiefnews.com/news/articl ... 652ea.html

I'm shocked too. I grew up in a small town and the local newspaper had a thorough hiring process for reporters. The editor should be embarrassed. I hope someone working at the newspaper calls him out. I looked at the "About Us" section on the website and here is info regarding the ownership.

About The Chief

The Chief has served the people of northern Columbia County and eastern Clatsop County for over a century. From 1922 to 2014 it was owned and operated by four generations of the Steele family. In 2014, Portland-based Country Media purchased the publication from the Steele family. Country Media owns newspapers in Manzanita, Tillamook, Lincoln City and St. Helens. The Chief is rich in good will and loyalty among its readers, as demonstrated by numerous local and statewide awards.

http://countrymedia.net/

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More creative punctuation in this headline

After years of service ... and, retirement, K-9 dies

thechiefnews.com/news/article_7d79dc74-6c15-11e4-b4bf-4b3f5f15d310.html

So, how long will she last? Will the job be there when she returns from Peru?

I think at the most, she will last six months. I've been looking through the paper's website and several of the recent articles don't have reporter names on them. Here is another article written by Raquel.

http://www.thechiefnews.com/news/articl ... 940ff.html

My guess is that while she is in Peru, someone else will cover for her. Maybe the editor will cover for her.

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Well it is an actual newspaper. I am shocked because even my tiny town newspaper doesn't hire writers like this. Does the owner know how to use google so they could see they were hiring a serial plagiarist who is also racists and homophobic?

http://www.thechiefnews.com/news/articl ... 652ea.html

This former English/Journalism major (BA) and past reporter, copywriter, editor, magazine writer, tech writer and proofreader thinks that she's a WONDERFUL writer. Not.

Every other sentence uses "to be" verbs or the passive voice (two huge "no nos" in news writing). She also uses sentence fragments, informal phrases and nonspecific details ("he spent about 11 months in military hospitals and had 3 or 4 surgeries"). And what's with the random commas?

Raquel, you are no reporter. And you have a sucky editor.

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This former English/Journalism major (BA) and past reporter, copywriter, editor, magazine writer, tech writer and proofreader thinks that she's a WONDERFUL writer. Not.

Every other sentence uses "to be" verbs or the passive voice (two huge "no nos" in news writing). She also uses sentence fragments, informal phrases and nonspecific details ("he spent about 11 months in military hospitals and had 3 or 4 surgeries"). And what's with the random commas?

Raquel, you are no reporter. And you have a sucky editor.

Just nodding my head along with ya here. My copy editor finger is itching!

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This is actually making me kind of angry. I have a degree in English literature, but after struggling to find a job I went back to uni to study computing. I now work as a programmer, and I really do love it, but it galls me that Raquel, who can't write for shit, got a job writing when I couldn't manage it.

I think I need to take a deep breath, step back, and remember that I, unlike Raquel, am actually good at my job. AND I know how to use commas :P

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We probally just made her their favorite employee with all the hits they got on their site from everyone checking out her newest randomness :lol:

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This is actually making me kind of angry. I have a degree in English literature, but after struggling to find a job I went back to uni to study computing. I now work as a programmer, and I really do love it, but it galls me that Raquel, who can't write for shit, got a job writing when I couldn't manage it.

I think I need to take a deep breath, step back, and remember that I, unlike Raquel, am actually good at my job. AND I know how to use commas :P

It is right for you to be angry about this. I'm sure that others, in similar situations would also be angry.

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It is right for you to be angry about this. I'm sure that others, in similar situations would also be angry.

It am a bit angry as well. I have an English/Writing degree and seven months post college I have been unable to land a job. That Raquel got a job without any writing classes and a homeschool GED education as a reporter for a newspaper and even more infuriating is that she never had to do an actual interview to get the job and they just hired her on the spot. And there are so many like me. I bet she had a relative high up who got her this job because I do not believe it otherwise.

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I have been thinking about this because it bothers me.

My first undergrad degree was Communications (although I bent towards advertising/marketing). I have lots of comm friends who went into newspapers in the early 2000's and are now having to change careers because the newspaper industry is well and truly dying. Newspapers are cutting really high quality staff and content is being drastically reduced and/or obtained straight from AP wires. Shoot, my parents, who are life long paper subscribers, recently shut off their subscription because the content of their local paper was getting too skimpy.

I wonder if this tiny newspaper in Oregon is trying a new business model. Paying local people minimum wage for content doesn't have an ounce of journalistic integrity, but if they no longer have an ad base to support normal wages, maybe they figured it was better then nothing? As the newspaper continues to die and perhaps goes online only, what makes it any different then a blog anyways.

I think Raquel working for this newspaper says more about the state of the newspaper industry then it does about Raquel's journalistic skills (or lack there of).

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I have been thinking about this because it bothers me.

My first undergrad degree was Communications (although I bent towards advertising/marketing). I have lots of comm friends who went into newspapers in the early 2000's and are now having to change careers because the newspaper industry is well and truly dying. Newspapers are cutting really high quality staff and content is being drastically reduced and/or obtained straight from AP wires. Shoot, my parents, who are life long paper subscribers, recently shut off their subscription because the content of their local paper was getting too skimpy.

I wonder if this tiny newspaper in Oregon is trying a new business model. Paying local people minimum wage for content doesn't have an ounce of journalistic integrity, but if they no longer have an ad base to support normal wages, maybe they figured it was better then nothing? As the newspaper continues to die and perhaps goes online only, what makes it any different then a blog anyways.

I think Raquel working for this newspaper says more about the state of the newspaper industry then it does about Raquel's journalistic skills (or lack there of).

I know our local paper (owned by Gannet) pays people in the community a pittance, if anything, to write columns and local-interest articles. At least here the editing is done fairly well; which is more than we can say for Raquel's paper.

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I graduated from college with honors with a degree in communications. I was an editor of my college newspaper. I also wrote PR materials for a school organization, published a short story in the collegiate literary journal and spent a couple of years as a tutor in the writing center.

Professionally I have worked:

As a freelance writer/copy editor/proofreader

Contributing editor to a local magazine

Research/Tech Writer

Copywriter

I have written about culture and entertainment, activism, education, politics, religion, green issues, community events, the arts, social justice, entrepreneurship, notable professionals, and the arts.

My book review blog has gained quite a few followers in the past year. Tomorrow I'm publishing a review of a book that the publisher sent to me in galley form. The publicity/media company for Warner Bros. had me work on a PR piece for the movie "This Is Where I Leave You." I copy edited a recently released novel.

All this and I still get told I'm not established and experienced enough for a writing-related job.

Yet, Raquel, an uneducated, no talent fundie twit gets a reporting gig with her town's community newspaper.

No wonder journalism is dead.

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