The first rule of journalism: Do not talk about journalism.
No, that isn’t it. The first rule of journalism is “If your mother says she loves you, check it out,” which is to say never rely on any non-primary sources, especially other journalists. So this recent post, “Ahnold going to pump it up: Schwarzenegger mandates 33 percent renewables by 2030,” isn’t right because this story isn’t.
Schwarzenegger’s Executive Order is here, and it clearly states:
That the following Renewable Portfolio Standard target is hereby established for California: All retail sellers of electricity shall serve 33 percent of their load with renewable energy by 2020. State government agencies are hereby directed to take all appropriate actions to implement this target in all regulatory proceedings, including siting, permitting, and procurement for renewable energy power plants and transmission lines.
The rest of the Order is worth reading because of all the details on how the state will expedite renewable energy siting.
The motto for many journalists was once “accuracy terseness accuracy.” Online, it is “inaccuracy, snarkiness, inaccuracy.” My apologies, and thanks to Ken Johnson for flagging this
And for those who say bloggers aren’t journalists, all I can say is, first, my father was an old-school newspaper editor for 30 years, so I try to uphold his principles, and second, what the heck is a “log” if not a “journal”? — heck you can find them on the same page and most thesauruses!
This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
