Bunch of poorly written guff

I had a lengthy stint editing a magazine and one of the biggest tedious jobs I had was responding to people who had submitted unsolicited opinion pieces.

I know there's a fair amount in the press these days (ta J Clarkson et al), but they need to include *at least* one of the following:

New information
A new perspective
an entertaining take on something

Professional opinion writers (in the mainstream press) tend to bring points 3 and/or 2.

Citizen journalists almost always don't.
See Charlie Brooker's newswipe piece on 'asking the public for their opinion' on a news story.
Unless you have some credentials or can make me laugh I really don't care.

And if you're trawling the media for stories that echo your already held beliefs then good for you, but you'd be better off reading some Plato.

Anyway, what's everyone having for lunch?
(probably gonna head out to grab co-op meal deals for myself and CCJr, as we're all ill, or soup if I can't face the baltic weather)

Posted By: Cardiff Canary, Jan 8, 13:12:07