The brutally sad existence of journalists
I stumbled across a web site devoted to giving journalists the chance to enlighten people about their places of employment. Ostensibly, this site would be a key stop for a job-seeker to find out what it's really like when they walk into the office wearing something other than job-interview clothes. In reality, it's a site where people can post often whiny and sometimes vicious diatribes about their co-workers. It's a follow-up to a site that was wildly popular in about 1998, but shut down abruptly after one particular thread got incredibly personal and, as I recall, named names.

The general content of a posting to one of these sites goes something like this:

"God, the place I work is (a hellhole/like a concentration camp/the worst ever). The pay is (lousy/barely enough to feed me/I'm paying them to let me work there.) My boss is (an imbecile/mentally ill/not smart enough to compose a coherent sentence.) I have no idea how he/she got promoted, unless (he kissed his boss's ass/there was a corporate conspiracy/he had naked pictures of the publisher.) The only people who get promoted are (complete idiots/ass-kissers/no-talent hacks) while a future Pulitzer winner such as myself has to (toil in obscurity/write 8-inch stories/write corrections when I make mistakes). The corporation that owns my paper has no respect for journalism and only cares about profits, which is why they (canceled the Christmas party/only gave me a 2 percent raise/fired me last week.) They never let us (write long stories/surf the Web for porn at work/fudge our expense reports). I hate it and I'm (leaving at the first opportunity/working on my resume instead of writing a story this very minute/going to come to work with an AR-15.)"

I can understand the tendency of a reporter or a copy editor, particularly, to feel the need to vent. And God knows I'm entertained by reading it. Occasionally, however, I'll note the unmistakable stench of a thin-skinned manager attempting to post a response. That's stupid, and naive. If your employee really cared about what you thought, he or she would have brought the problem to you in the first place and wouldn't have felt the need to broadcast it to the world. A reporter who feels the need to bitch about work on the web is annoying (albeit, again, entertaining.) An editor who feels the need to respond on such a board ... well, your reporter is probably right about you being a pathetic idiot.

(And no, to the best of my knowledge, I haven't been the subject of a rant. Yet.)

It's no secret that I've been less than satisfied with my job every once in a while. But sheesh, I've never had so much time on my hands that I could come up with enough vitriol -- nor have I ever had enough of an ego to believe the entire world would give a shit about my plight.

In defense of journalists: A satisfied journalist is a bad journalist. Good reporters question everything. Some of the best, alas, can't turn off that tendency when they log off for the day and go home. The very best, however, channel that energy into finding more stories and more questions to ask. They don't waste keystrokes on rant boards.