Lousy Journalism Notice...?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070605/us_nm/usa_poor_greyhound_dc

I particularly love the paragraph about the elderly couple with the twitchy movements of drug users.

80% of elderly America use drugs. It's a thriving legitimate industry.

Here guys, why don't you kick the poor... I mean, they're down. They can't fight back...

A disgusting viewpoint told without any trace of supposed Christian compassion.

The author of this screed claims the name of Mathew Briggs. Somebody pays him to write this shite.

Answer 1

OK, the sentence on the elderly drug users is a bad one. It should have been avoided. Mistakes happen.

I like the idea for the story, though. It could have used some historical insight, on how bus travel has changed, particularly in the South, since the 1950's and 1960's. Most people don't use the bus anymore, particularly if they can afford not to do so, and so this can be a look at something that goes a bit unseen. I haven't been on one since college.

I don't think it's wrong to not show "compassion." It's not that type of story. The reporter simply wanted to write who goes by bus, took a typical route, and went to work. Nothing wrong with that.