NYO – News Story 2 — This is one of the most amazing articles I’ve read yet about today’s journalists. It’s about how many of them witnessed events in New Orleans and could not reconcile their observations with official comments. So they had to call their editors because they did not know what to do. And many of the reporters are now sent to counselling because they had to witness the suffering and it made them sad. What the hell is wrong with these idiots? Seriously. They should be ashamed of themselves. They should sell donuts instead of reporting.
Are you telling me that these people suddenly learned to be skeptical of official accounts because what they saw was not what they were told? What? So now they admit they have been doing nothing more than parroting BS? Gosh, a reporter filing a story of what they saw for themselves. How novel!
While reading this long article I got physically ill. Seriously it sickened me. If this is what the j-Schools have churned out then the country is doomed.
excerpt:
“You’re kind of operating in a world of one-source accounts,” Ms. Barringer said, adding that her editors were crucial in helping her to put the information into context. “So what gets out is the raw information. It’s a no-spin zone.”
Sometimes the reporters were so far out ahead of the story that they found themselves ignoring official statements, instead filing reports of what they were seeing themselves.
“The problem was there was such a disconnect with what we were seeing and what we were hearing from local officials,” said New York Times reporter Shaila Dewan, who returned to Atlanta from covering Katrina in Gulfport and Biloxi, Miss. “You always have tension when you’re a reporter about how much weight to give an official’s viewpoint. In this case, it was exacerbated by the disconnect. You could walk out and count five dead bodies, and the officials were saying there were 60 dead bodies in the county, and you said, “No way, I just saw five dead bodies myself.”
found by Twelvetwo
Most newspapers, like TV and radio, are entertainment centers for generating advertising revenue. That’s all.
The concept of generating revenue by gathering and disseminating news disappeared as “journalistic” media was sold, again and again, to creeps and beancounters. News is a commodity. The people who own media don’t really care what the commodity is. Just how often they turn a profit — and how big that profit may be. The political mantra is don’t rock the boat — otherwise you may diminish margins.
Fits in perfectly well with an education system that churns out worker bees and drones. We may end up with a more spectacular splash than the Romans.
Twelvetwo comes through again!
Related to this, I’ve heard pundits talking about how “now is not the time to assess blame.” That makes NO sense. If “now” is not the time, when is the time? And “not assessing blame” is merely another way of saying we should keep the public in the dark and hope it goes away.
When a disaster is happening, either an act of god or man made, NOW is always the time to figure out the cause. Waiting until memories fade and events are forgotten never makes sense unless your intent is to cover it up.
You know dang well that the market appeal on their tapes are more important than their resumes when it comes to hiring. Talent takes a back seat to looks. Can you imagine Ernie Pyle or Edward R. Murrow being hired for on camera work in todays cheese cake world. Just more of our plastic society. Even a pop singer can’t get a job unless she can pass as a playboy centerfold. They don’t want to be journalist, they want to be 7 figure TV stars. John I swear I got to stop read this thing, you end up getting my blood pressure up every day.
Huh, imagine that. News reports that aren’t spun. Isn’t that illegal nowadays? Actually reporting the facts instead of opinion about the facts seems to be going the way of the dinosaurs. There are fewer and fewer actual reporters of the truth out there. That’s one of the reasons I appreciate your columns and other outlets. Yes, you give your opinions (usually spot on) but you clearly report the facts, *then* give your spin and make sure it’s clear that it’s your spin.
This problem was truly shown the clearest when Mr. Moore won the Oscar for his propaganda film masquerading as a documentary.
Tragic. The world of journalism has fallen into a truly sad state of affairs. Thank goodness we have blogs providing independent thinking, reporting and analysis – even if some it is on the lunatic fringe. If I were restricted to the pablum being fed via mainstream media, I”d probably have voted for the current crop of clowns!
I like how all of you are SHOCKED that the media is like this. They have been lazy for years. I know of a PhD who gave a speech in 1996 and he said “Beware the Government-Media Complex.” How true that was.
The press has missed so many stories over the past 10 years that it is pitiful. Think of stories like the Oil for Food Program at the U.N. that had to be covered by small time reporters. Or think of the story of the illegal immigrants taking the ranch of an American citizen because they claim that they were accosted, even though no witnesses saw them be touched. Also in that story one of the members of the Ranch Rescue organization that was helping out the rancher was supposedly held by the Governor of Arizona under the Patriot Act with no charges being filed. Furthermore, you have the ongoing situation in Kosovo and the burning of churches and killing of non-Muslims. Kosovo has also become a haven and possible training ground for Islmo-Facists terrorists.
Hi,
can you post a link to the whole article?
Imagine…people in the NEWS finding out about emotion and humanity by actually covering it. Huh. I LIKED seeing the real reporting….but, figure with enough “re-education” and counseling they’ll go back to paying more attention to what the ‘official’ word is, instead of thinking for themselves. It’s so much easier that way, isn’t it?
J school is only PART of what’s wrong with the picture.
Let’s see it on the bright side – maybe this is a wake up call to journalists in your country.
Easy, the media think that they are celebrities too.
Reality check–
News is all about ratings. Telling it like it is is sure to tick off some group, which then won’t watch the news program. If the group is big enough, this affects ratings negatively. The only way to get those ratings back is to broadcast stories that don’t tick off anyone (such as the “Snowball” dog incident).
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Talent takes a back seat to looks. Can you imagine Ernie Pyle or Edward R. Murrow being hired for on camera work in todays cheese cake world. Just more of our plastic society. Even a pop singer can’t get a job unless she can pass as a playboy centerfold. They don’t want to be journalist, they want to be 7 figure TV stars. John I swear I got to stop read this thing, you end up getting my blood pressure up every day.
Related to this, I’ve heard pundits talking about how “now is not the time to assess blame.” That makes NO sense. If “now” is not the time, when is the time? And “not assessing blame” is merely another way of saying we should keep the public in the dark and hope it goes away.
Fits in perfectly well with an education system that churns out worker bees and drones. We may end up with a more spectacular splash than the Romans.
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