Off-limit conversations?

[jfs1000]

If newsroom people don't know how to debate things in civil terms, what are they doing working for freedom of speech? Debates should be an exchange of ideas and opinions, not insults and ridicule.

What newsroom is this we speak of? I don't know about your news room, but even amongst friends it is impossible to have an argument without ridicule and insults. I mean, it's sports, and the sports desk is the last "men's locker room" like atmosphere in the world. Cherish it.

 

[Lieslntx]

There is a difference between a debate and an argument. A debate can be had without ridicule and insults. Once those two come into play, it stops being a debate and becomes nan argument.

 

[MightyMouse]

If newsroom people don't know how to debate things in civil terms, what are they doing working for freedom of speech? Debates should be an exchange of ideas and opinions, not insults and ridicule.

What newsroom is this we speak of? I don't know about your news room, but even amongst friends it is impossible to have an argument without ridicule and insults. I mean, it's sports, and the sports desk is the last "men's locker room" like atmosphere in the world. Cherish it.

I tend to agree, and if all I had to worry about was the people on my desk, it would be one big no-holds-barred free-for-all every night.

Unfortunately, I have to take the news side into account (as well as the ME and EE, whose offices are very nearby).

 

[Versatile]

Ridicule and insults rule, especially if you're talking about a close-knit copy desk. That way, you know what cuts your nemesis the deepest, but also know he/she will take it as it was intended, in good fun.

Since I left the business, I'd give my life savings to find a work atmosphere with a comparable number of dirty-minded yet thick-skinned colleagues.

This. If you're not insulting one another, you probably don't like each other very much, in my experiences.