Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?

[redpaint]

I don't know if this has been posted or not. I have been able to be on line much the last few days. But I have to agree with this store By Orson Scott Card, That journalism no longer cares about reporting the truth. He talks about how one sided the press has become on this housing thing that has been going on and who was to blame. Also how one side the Press has been in reporting on this years election.

I have yet to decide on who I want to run this country. but after reading this and even see for my self on how one side it has been. I have to wonder who I trust more... Becouse I really don;t trust either one of them.

http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081017light.html

This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of Congressmen who support increasing their budget.)

Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

 

[amicus]

Hello, Redpaint, good post...and important...

I was fortunate enough to spend most of forty years in the reporter business, reading the news, reporting the news on radio, television and newspapers and I agree.

I learned my trade the hard way, from midnight shows on radio and slowly working up to the morning shift and a larger audience.

Not only has the objectivity of reporting gone astray, but also the quality of the people; I would have been fired in a New York minute had I ever said, "gonna, wanna, shoulda, coulda", or any of the other bastardizations of the english language.

This is a time of great change in the world we live in, actually since the end of world war two, the changes have outpaced our understanding of this new order of society that we find ourselves in.

So very many of the intelligentia here on this forum will swear that there is no truth and only opinions count. How can a poor reporter sort out the political and philosophical differences when they are chosen to perform because of looks or a good voice?

I sympathize with your plight and I would not for a moment offer a solution as I doubt there is one in the current uneasy and tumultuous environment.

Good luck.

Amicus...

 

[3113]

*Yawn* I read half way through it. Seems to be a diatribe on the liberal bias of the media disguised as an "unbias" examination of the news reporting. I'm sorry, but I'm sick and tired of the media always being painted as having a "liberal bias." Does no one watch Fox News or does everyone believe they're the only ones who are objective? If the article had examined everything from the 2000 election, the lack of any criticism by the media for the Iraq war during it's first two years as compared to the criticism later, etc., then I'd have said it had a point. As it is, it's just bitching about the same old, same old.

And frankly, with Fox News at the top of the ratings over these last 8 years and republicans fully in power for the last 8 years...I find it hard to weep and cry over the injustices that reporters are now showing towards republicans in the wake the housing crisis.

Oh, and I'm surprised it took Orson this long to realize what is evident if you just watch Citizen Kane. News is a BUSINESS and though there have been real investigators, getting out the real news, most newspapers, news shows, and the like are just trying to increase their audience. This means they'll report anything that does that. If they'll lose viewers if they criticize a war, they won't. If they'll gain viewers if they criticize a war, they will. It's that simple.

Why is this so new and shocking? Why are you so surprised? More, why is Orson Scott Card just realizing this now? Books in plenty have been written about it, this is nothing new. It's old, it's tired. And so far as I can see, it's as biased as it accuses the reporters of being. He needs a nightlight.

 

[TE999]

'Honest reporter' is a classic oxymoron.

Just like 'Principled politician',

 

[amicus]

Hmmm...3113 and TE999 are saying that no one ever at any time observed, comprehended, wrote or reported anything objectively true.

That does not surprise me.

I even understand the jaded thinking that leads both and many others to that conclusion.

If one postulates that there is no such thing as absolute truth and if, as they do, they also proclaim that if such truth did exist, the human mind could not comprehend it, then it is easy to become a moral and ethical relativist within which nothing means anything.

Such is the state of affairs that you have dabbled into Redpaint, welcome.

Amicus...

 

[DesertPirate]

The last semi objective news anchor was the the team of Huntley & Brinkley

How far NBC has fallen.

 

[DesertPirate]

And frankly, with Fox News at the top of the ratings over these last 8 years

Wonders if this is because the others are so bad?
They are doing something very wrong, could it be their political bias?

 

[rgraham666]

Shrugs.

If honest reporters and principled politicians are a thing of the past we have no one to blame but ourselves.

 

[DesertPirate]

Shrugs.

If honest reporters and principled politicians are a thing of the past we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Very true Rob.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

3113

I watched FOX last night, to sample their wares. In one segment Obama's guy was on addressing the old 2001 interview, in another segment Michelle Malkin was matched with an Obama guy, and Chuck Schumer was on as well. FOX's celebrities include many liberal pundits...like Juan Williams. Hell, Hillary and Barney Frank appear on FOX.

I think newspapers once printed anything with entertainment value, but thats not the case today. Todays newspaper writing reminds me of hack stuff churches, schools, police, and Salvation Army print in their newsletters. Its all sanitized and de-hydrated and de-clawed.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Here is more about reporters. I would call them "Journalists" but that would sound more professional than they are being.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081028/pl_politico/14982