Junk Journalism: Why Writing for Ad Slots Discourages Readers

Website design By BotEap.comThe most frustrating thing that can happen to someone trying to research almost any topic online is running into junk journalism. You visit a website for serious information or content only to come across a long, mostly useless article. If you’re lucky, it may contain a sentence or two of information that will help you. The problem is, you had to read a dozen useless paragraphs and click through multiple pages to get there.

Website design By BotEap.comPeople experience these kinds of things all the time. I know what I do. So, I have learned that when I land in a place like that, it is time to immediately move to greener pastures. I mentally ban those sites and after a while I recognize them in the search results. And I am not alone. Newbies don’t know this and will have to learn from experience like me. That’s what keeps these useless and over-monetized sites alive.

Website design By BotEap.comNow don’t get me wrong. These websites obviously make money or they wouldn’t exist. And it may be that the pirates who write for them also make money. The issue is not just how negatively they affect visitors, but what they do to the people who write the content. Writers develop enough bad habits without their writing style being ruined by churning out pulp junk for what amounts to ad sites with virtually no useful information.

Website design By BotEap.comA writer is like any other professional. If they start or are headed in the wrong direction, it is difficult to change course later. You may be a talented musician who learned to play by ear. That will entertain people at a local talent show or inspire parishioners at a church if religious music is your thing. What he won’t do is get you a job as a serious music professional. For that you have to learn to read music and be able to transfer that information to the instrument of your choice. By the time you start doing that, your brain is already programmed to play by ear.

Website design By BotEap.comAnother aspect of junk journalism is the contempt many writers have for spelling. Sure, we all turned off the Spell Checker to avoid having to go back and dump or change the words you use instead of the ones we type. That does not give us permission to write something with misspelled words. I can’t access any major news site without encountering a series of misspelled words. If you doubt me, try it yourself. Misspelling doesn’t just tell the reader that you don’t really care what you’re writing; It detracts from the subject and causes an unnecessary pause in the material.

Website design By BotEap.comVery few writers are disciplined enough to obey all the grammar rules and that includes me. I don’t think there is anything wrong with having a “natural” writing style that allows the writer to express his point of view in his own words. That’s far from too vague to spell words correctly or create a silly document using an increasingly popular ‘phonetic’ spelling.

Website design By BotEap.comJust because our educational system sometimes embraces phonetic spelling doesn’t mean it’s correct, especially if you plan to write professionally. The teacher writes TELEPHONE on the board, then writes TELEPHONE next to it and says it is okay because it is pronounced that way. Meanwhile, some mental confidence in the back of the room that has already benefited from years of this kind of education says, “Yeah, it’s spelled that way in Canada, right?” I think I have made my point clear.