"The night that journalism died..."

[MagicaPractica]

I picked up the paper this morning for the first time in a long time. (Oh my God! When did the number of ads get bigger than the entire paper?) Came across a commentary that I thought a number of people here might appreciate, probably already read it in fact but in case you didn't...

http://www.miamiherald.com/285/story/145242.html

 

[rgraham666]

We live in a society where money is more important than wisdom, goodness or even lives.

Why should we be surprised at what happens then?

 

[neonlyte]

The media cycle is growing shorter. Competition from the Internet causes newspapers to cut and reduce serious or in-depth reporting in order to get to the next story. It's been happening a while and no sign of any let up.

 

[Pure]

journalism died along with TV, where there are often about 50% ads in a supposed 'one hour' program.

even the news has ads just after they say 'here's the news', and before anything is actually said.

 

[S-Des]

Although I appreciate the sentiment and it was a turning point, nothing ever changes in one, fell swoop. It died a little at a time for decades (and is still in the process as we speak). Here we had a wonderful (and very popular) news team with Carol Maureen & Ron Majors. They were both real journalists, well educated with the kind of experience that helped them report the news with credibility (stories that they helped research and put together, not just something they read off the teleprompter). Although they had good ratings, some brilliant program director decided they should put that bastion of good taste, Jerry Springer, on for a 1 or 2 minute commentary nightly, hoping to attract attention and some fans from his show. The duo was furious, seeing all the work they had done in their career to bring credibility to the news, flushed down the drain in one act of idiocy. Maureen quit, Springer didn't do anything other than annoy people, and the local news continued to get worse. At this point I don't even bother to watch anymore.

The Springer experiment wasn't some random act that changed everything, it was one step in a logical progression. The same with OJ. Paris is a another step in that evolutionary cycle.

 

[rgraham666]

The Springer experiment wasn't some random act that changed everything, it was one step in a logical progression. The same with OJ. Paris is a another step in that evolutionary cycle.

Which demonstrates what a dangerous thing logic is without wisdom.

 

[kellyhockey]

I picked up the paper this morning for the first time in a long time. (Oh my God! When did the number of ads get bigger than the entire paper?) Came across a commentary that I thought a number of people here might appreciate, probably already read it in fact but in case you didn't...

http://www.miamiherald.com/285/story/145242.html

Our country has become obsessed with self indulgent twits. The future is not llooking good.

 

[flavortang]

This is a huge fucking planet with tons of interesting shit going on, but I have to constantly change my news channel because they're hellbent on giving airtime to this vacuous, talentless skank. It's horrible. I want to know about important things happening in the world but I can't.

 

[Just-Legal]

*starts breathing again* God Magica for a second I thought this was an "Alan Johnston has been killed" thread...

More sensible comment when I've read the article

 

[starrkers]

Sadly, it's not a phenomenon peculiar to the US.

And people wonder why I no longer work in newspapers.

 

[Stella_Omega]

The New York Times still makes an effort. I subscribe to it online.

 

[tickledkitty]

deleted

 

[MagicaPractica]

Yes, I agree that it didn't happen in one night. I can't even say that the OJ thing was a turning point. But it was certainly a big sign. I pretty much don't even bother watching TV news anymore. I occasionally watch some BBC, check newspapers and watch headlines on various news sites for things of actual interest.

ETA: I should probably note that "The night that journalism died" is the title it was given in my local paper, not my personal take on it.

 

[shereads]

As Al Gore puts it in his book, The Assault on Reason, ``The subjugation of news by entertainment seriously harms our democracy: It leads to dysfunctional journalism that fails to inform the people. And when the people are not informed, they cannot hold government accountable when it is incompetent, corrupt, or both.''

Gore is right. Again.



My only quibble with Potts' article is the date of death.

In my view, American journalism died when Roone Arledge at ABC Television broke with tradition, and decreed that his network's news shows would have to compete for revenue in the same ratings arena as the sports and entertainment divisions. Until then, the three broadcast networks had protected their news programs from the inevitable conflicts of interest that arise when the financial reins are in the hands of corporate advertisers.

Arledge's decision made objectivity a risky-to-fatal proposition for news editors. But it certainly led to more exciting and colorful news. No more talking heads. No more long, dull stories about the economy or detailing the finer points of some political issue. No more hour-long newscasts, either. Who needs them? Half an hour is plenty, and leaves time for a half-hour of entertainment news.

If the need to please corporate advertisers wasn't enough to kill objective journalism, the death knoll has been the buy-out of local newspapers and broadcast outlets by the corporations themselves. Congress frowns on funding public TV and radio, which leaves us with the commercial media, most of which is now in the hands of a crowd barely big enough to fill out Rupert Murdoch's golf foursome.

So I'd like to blame Roone Arlege. If he hadn't begun the trend of using ad rates as the measure of quality journalism, the O.J. story would have been all but ignored by the nightly news. But whose fault is it that O.J. was ratings gold? Like Paris Hilton's jailhouse breakdown and Anna Nicole's babydaddies?

We're to blame. We consumers/viewers/readers.

If we didn't prefer trash news to journalism, trash wouldn't be so profitable. By "we," of course, I don't mean all of us. Just the majority whose attention spans can't accommodate too many facts. Sadly, they outnumber the rest of us. (Which explains George W. Bush's second term.) We get the government and the news we/they deserve.

Serious journalism has few friends in high places. And even fewer friends down here at the bottom.



For daily news, I wake up to National Public Radio. It's amazing, how much more is going on in the world than most people think there is.

 

[Lone_Quixote]

“We interrupt the Breaking News Report on the decision in the paternity of the Anna Nicole Smith's baby which interrupted our regularly scheduled telecast of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s examination of Attorney-General Alberto R. Gonzales, to bring you this special Eyewitness Report.”

“A hail of bullets rang out and seven people were left dead outside a downtown Minneapolis liquor store. Striking images from our Eyewitness News helicopter now bring you ....