Comments on: Can you hear the buzz?…

By: Public Opinion

Public Opinion — Thu, 28 Aug 2003 01:21:42 +0000

woud you trust a journalist?

I have come across this story about journalism by Michael D’Antonio courtesy of Rhetorica. It starts by saying that journalists

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 27 Aug 2003 10:30:13 +0000

JSteele, if you are looking for prognostication, you have asked the wrong person – I couldn’t guess a riddle if my life depended on it! But according the James Fallows article cited above, he thinks media will revert to what it was before the late 1800s- that is, more openly partisan, in the European mode.

By: Creative Slips

Creative Slips — Wed, 27 Aug 2003 06:05:18 +0000

Carnival of the Vanities #49

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen

By: Creative Slips

Creative Slips — Wed, 27 Aug 2003 05:59:54 +0000

Carnival of the Vanities #49

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen

By: JSteele

JSteele — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 15:30:03 +0000

Could it be that the activist journo’s lose their self-imposed mandate once they realize it’s the editors and owners who determine the story?

I’ve known a few journalists, and while I agree they are all a bit activist and have an elitist view of themselves, they are all definitely working class folks.

I haven’t been a “newshound” for long, do y’all think the decline a cyclical thing, or are we on a one-way street?

By: acline

acline — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 13:34:54 +0000

For more on this decline, I suggest James Fallows’ book “Breaking the News.”

Journalism was once a working class job. It still was to a limited extent when I went to college with the intention to become a journalist. I think the “activist” angle you mention is accurate to a certain extent–although I don’t think this has quite the nefarious effect (or intention) some people might ascribe to it.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 11:02:07 +0000

This essay only scratches the surface of the problem the public has with journalism. There has been much “buzz” about this lately, no doubt brought on by the Pew survey. The idea that the media is not elitist is bogus – how many journos come from less than middle-class backgrounds? As one wag put it, the closest most reporters get to poverty and oppression is a PBS whinefest. “Some say” (can’t remember where I saw this) that those going into journalism are the sorts who want to “change the world” and are activists. These people are not interested in stories that “strive for accuracy and fairness”, or the “process of objectivity”. My current problem with journos is the “unnnamed source” bit, but since I’ve been a newshound since the ’60’s, I have to say that TV news started falling down in the 80’s(at least that is when I first noticed) when anchors/reporters starting attributing “motive” and other unknowables to those in the news. The absolute nadir, IMO, was the Clinton/Lewinsky debacle – I stopped watching TV national news then (l998) and never looked back—not that print media is much better. The Atlantic Monthly has an article in it’s current edition by James Fallows about all this (and other things) where he states:”…TV news changed again, starting in the l970s, through the efforts of, among others, Roone Arledge, of ABC, who made news profitable; Ted Turner, of CNN, who made the news cycle continuous; and Larry King and Gerald Rivera, who merged news and entertainment.” The decline of public trust in media has been a long, slippery slope, and I really don’t see a quick fix.