Opinion of the Oxford Comma

[tmthforu94]

As a journalism student who abides by AP style...terrible, absolutely terrible.

[tmthforu94]

So, the positives of using it are reducing possible confusion and ambiguity, while the negatives are...

It's extraneous.  In situations where it matters (like on old school typewriters or Twitter), it counts as a character space. 

Also, can you provide an example where the lack of a serial comma introduces ambiguity that cannot be resolved by simply re-ordering the named items in the series?

Exactly. It just adds redundancy and is a sign of poor journalism, hence why AP style does not use it.

[tmthforu94]

^^^Precisely. It can create for confusion both ways that can be corrected by switching the order around. Ultimately, the Oxford Comma is redundant and should go away.