Mainstream media talk news 

A recent weather related news story in the mainstream press contained a significant error with regard to the meteorology, and it sent some meteorologists in the blogosphere nuts-- asking how stories about weather often get fundamentals so wrong. In this case it wrongly called a jet stream pattern the "Pineapple Express" and blamed it for the big storms in the Pacific NW.  So as someone with 32 years in the business of both broadcast journalism and a degreed meteorologist let me explain. It's a simple story. I posted this in response to those going ballistic on this story, but its important for consumers of "news" and information from all sources to realize. It applies to all subjects not just weather:

Saw the same thing on the WGN Weather web site-- usually a reliable site but this post was written by "staff" including unpaid students.

Often stories in the mainstream media are written by non-journalists (most colleges stopped having a journalism dept decades ago) who study "Radio-TV" or "communications", "media studies" or "broadcasting". Often they are young and inexperienced with no expertise in the subject they are writing about. One young person is tasked with dashing out multiple stories for the wire, a web page, a blog and a station web page, i.e. over-worked, under-educated, under informed and inexperienced..

Often these stories are written by interns still in school!! The profession has changed. Very low wages, retirements and massive job cuts have gutted the media of real journalists and replaced them with cheap labor and non-specialists. Real journalists and a staff of expert fact-checkers cost money. Ombudsmen have been wiped out as an antiquated luxury i.e. ethics and facts eat into the bottom line while non specialist half-baked opinion givers do not. Things are "reported" by "reporters" who may not have investigated the facts first-hand, or they report things second or third hand without seeking verification or independent corroboration. A reporter may be a journalist, but most are just reporters.

Entertainment and getting more "eyes" and "ears" is the goal not substance. Old school journalism (think Cronkite, Woodward and Bernstein etc.) died 20+ years ago. Bad for democracy, the public and the field but great for maximizing profits. I speak as an insider. Watch the movie Broadcast News if you've never seen it for a docudrama-comedy.