hey reporters, read this and cry

It's no wonder Washington, DC, is the seat of a Web start-up that realizes that often the best sources of local news are blogs because what actual news media sources give us is sh*t like this:

Congratulations, Washington Post! You're *almost* as good as my underfunded, tiny liberal arts 4-page newspaper that tried to decide which cafeteria was best -- North or South campus -- before inevitably coming to the conclusion that no one really cared.

Take that as a lesson, Post -- no one cares. Well, maybe some of you care *ahem* 600,000 federal employees in DC *ahem*, but I can't imagine anyone cares enough to warrant the above screen-captured cafeteria fluff piece the prestige of being placed on the front-page as the feature story in the Post's local section (at least online). I mean, that's just 'tarded, especially when there's a lot of other newsworthy sh*t happening around here.

Really, something seems un-right that part-time, mostly unpaid bloggers in DC are doing journalism better than their fulltime, paid counterparts and, if I were an advertiser, I'd probably rethink where I'd be putting my marketing dollars...

(Um, my pockets?)

Seriously, as a one-time reporter myself, I find it completely embarrassing to the profession that amateur bloggers (a word that's often scoffed at by those in the news business) are often more talented than trained reporters. In fact, I'm pretty happy and relieved to not be associated with the label "reporter" anymore because professional journalism -- at least as it exists today -- seems to be a stockyard for the uncreative and lazy. And that's a herd I honestly want no part of because herds are usually just there to slay and eat.

Thankfully, though, my skills and interests lead me to be better suited to editorialize (you're reading this essay, right?), so I'll let those few reporters who remain in the herd and who aren't completely stupid try to lead it away from the slaughterhouse. As for me, I'll just be over here continuing to write without letting the inverted pyramid guide my every AP-approved word. So, you can call me a blogger. Scoff at me if you must because I don't get paid a paltry yearly salary to create sub-par content. We'll see whose pockets the advertising money ends up with in a few years...