Johnny the reporter can’t write

Here’s the latest evidence . Read the three grafs below, the first three grafs of the story, then I’ll comment.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is nearly 150 years old and under fresh attack, but thanks to him scientists today understand the danger bird flu poses to humans, curators of a new Darwin exhibit say.

"Without his insights, we would fail to appreciate the dangerous potentials of rapid evolution in the avian flu virus," Michael Novacek, curator of paleontology at the museum, told a news conference on Tuesday.

The show chronicling the life of Darwin and his work opens on November 19 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York with original manuscripts, live Galapagos tortoises, orchids, personal effects and fossil specimens Darwin collected during his five-year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.

OK, now. Note the phrase “the museum” in the second graf. You can’t simply call someplace “the museum” (or “the school” or “the” whatever) unless you’ve explicitly identified it as The Museum of X, The New School for Social Research, etc.

Ahh, we have it identified as the “American Museum of Natural History” — one graf after the initial reference to it.

Perhaps this is nitpicky, compared to the idea of the Judith Millers of the world being reporters, not stenographers.

But, the fact is, syndicated news reporters get worse all the time, and the pace has accelerated in the past few years, including on biggies such as “its” vs. “it’s” confusion.

Why can’t we insist that reporters become BOTH better journalists AND better writers?