Jeff Cutler™ – columns, essays and opinions

When people ask about my vocation I tell them I write for a living and have been doing so for 20 years. When they prod a little, I say I write practically anything. When they push more, I break it down to an easy-to-understand “journalism, advertising, marketing, opinion columns, blogs and Bar Mitzvah toasts”.

Raised eyebrows and quizzical looks come from all quarters.

Newspaper reporters (most of them freelancing now) wonder with righteous indignation how I can balance reporting and copywriting. The long-standing bias reporters have toward flacks comes through and they wonder if I’m not just a paid pen for hire. Unvoiced is the skepticism that anyone can maintain critical thinking and ethical balance if they write more than one form.

I say balderdash…partly because I never get to use that word in any of my writing and mostly because that contention is crap.

A comment on Twitter the other day said that the vast percentage of bloggers are unable to write with the same ethical integrity as trained journalists. I emphatically agreed and was chided by a woman I consider a traditional journalist.

My reasoning – slightly difficult to put into 140 characters – is that bloggers come in all shapes and sizes. They are people who want to share what they ate for lunch, who they met that day, the bad parking photos they took, amusement park ride reviews, naked photos of themself, stories and rumors they heard, and also some who report the news.

Just take a look at three of my blogs and tell me that they all serve the same purpose. Bowl of Cheese, Things to Worry About, TDF08.

BOC is a rant site. I talk about how people are idiots and how the world would be better if I were running it.

TTWA is a random site that gives voice to my fears – however ill-conceived.

TDF08 is a reporting site with a dash of editorializing.

Balance those three – or any of my 12+ blogs – with my 20 years as a journalist and you’ll start to get a complete picture of the versatility present in my writing. I hope it will also open your eyes to the reality of writers who can write across a variety of forms and venues.

This doesn’t mean I’m going to start writing press releases any time soon. But I’m still going to write where the money is. And as news organizations lose more focus and funding, my best bet might be to do some J. Peterman pieces inbetween my tech analysis, social media training, commentary columns and sports reports.

What do you plan to do to bring in money? Would you, as a reporter, every cross into public relations? What’s your take on my argument?

Keep reading…and please comment. I’d like to know what you think.

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A recent SmartMoney column compared various scooter models and I feel they dropped the ball. They compared apples to oranges and weren’t fully up-front with their reasoning for some decisions and ratings.

Here’s the link to that story.

And here is a comment I left for the author…

As with any vehicle choice, a scooter might not be for everyone. Nor will the opinion of any one columnist or product reviewer mesh with the thoughts and experiences of an entire audience.

That said, this article was light on research and heavy on heavy-handedness.

I spent the better part of two years researching scooters, blogging about them and talking to shop owners, manufacturers, scooterists and motorcycle riders.

From this two-year informational journey I learned that scooters are as personal as cars. You’re not going to convince everyone that a Jaguar is a good vehicle or that a Smart Car is a smart choice for them.

In my opinion, the scooters that are being sold today stack up like so:

Vespa – good build quality, easy to work on, requires a good measure of care, costs a lot, lasts for a long time, sturdy, good MPG, nice resale value.

Genuine Scooter – best warranty in the industry, good build quality, not so easy to work on because of the design, half the price of a Vespa, easy to ride, great MPG, good resale.

Yamaha – bullet-proof designs, easy to work on, good MPG, good build quality, same price as Genuine, shorter warranty, well-supported dealer network, good resale.

Honda – lasts forever, great resale value, bullet-proof, some models are too small and underpowered, good dealer support, pricey for what you get, outstanding build quality, good gas mileage.

Suzuki – larger models mostly, solid build quality, long-lasting designs, fair gas mileage, more comparable to automatic motorcycles.

THE REST. The other brands are on-the-whole, knock-offs from China. If Vespa is a 10, Genuine, Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki are all eights. The others are threes and fours.

I wish the tester knew more about scoots, had taken some motorcycle safety courses to see how to get the most from any two-wheeled vehicle, and was more specific in the comparison of like models to like models.

I wish the columnist/reporter did a little more research so that he got more info from the tester.

In disclosure, I was mere moments from buying a Yamaha but was convinced to purchase a Genuine Scooter based on owner comments and the two-year warranty and free year of roadside assistance. The two bikes I was comparing were priced identically. Yamaha only offered one year warranty and no roadside.

You can read more of my commentary, columns and rants at any of the following sites:

http://www.jeffcutler.com

http://www.tdf08.com

http://www.bowlofcheese.com

http://www.thingstoworryabout.com

I will be posting my entire comment at jeffcutler.com this week.

Have you run into reporting that makes you crunch up your eyebrows and wonder what was motivating the writer? If so, please share.

Thanks and keep reading!

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