[barry-cotter]

> As I stated in my original post I understand the musician not knowing the difference; however, a professional reporter not knowing the difference or being able to do enough journalistic research to discover the difference is unacceptable.

This is in fact the norm. Journalists write about things they know nothing about under deadline all the time. They have next to no incentive to be accurate since most readers don't know anything about the area they're writing about. People who show through their reporting that they really know what they're talking about in areas where people actually make money tend to get offered jobs that pay better than reporting too.

That reporting is generally awful isn't new and it isn't an accident; it's a feature of the way news is made and paid for.