“If we expect this country to work, it depends on an informed, intelligent electorate. You know, Thomas Jefferson said very early on in our republic that the nation that expects to be ignorant and free expects it never can and never will be. We’re an ignorant nation right now. We’re not really capable, I do not think, the majority of our people, of making the decisions that have to be made at election time and particularly in the selection of their legislatures and their Congress and the presidency, of course. I don’t think we’re bright enough to do the job that would preserve our democracy, our republic. I think we’re in serious danger.”
~Walter Cronkite on Larry King Live, 2005
If this post is too lengthy, then just go ahead and skip it. It’s more of a very selfish rant that started out as a comment to ChiefArtReason’s blog post. But when comments turn into paragraphs, then why not just make it another post? Please know that I would never attempt to bore you with consonants and adjectives- I don’t get paid by the word.
Monday, Chief Art Reason posted an interesting blog, “Straight to the Point,” in which he asked a question that triggered a raw nerve of mine, exposing a peeve that seems will never go away.
If you have the time, I urge you to check out Art’s post. They’re always contemplative and timely, and one of the many must-reads on my list every day.
In that post, Art questions why the media is all honed in on the Tiger Woods madness at the expense of covering the four slain Lakewood (WA) police officers and their killer’s manhunt. He puts forth the theory “…that, for some twisted reason, the news media has taken it upon themselves to declare and anoint themselves as the moral compass and judge of the people whom they proclaim as newsworthy.destined for eternity.”
He is right to ask. If more of us asked such questions- AND thunk about the answers- we could steer the vehicle of journalism back toward the center line rather than further into the ditch.
But I’m going to take his question a step further. I don’t think we should stop at pointing the finger toward the decisions the news media is making. Rather, what is it that drives those decisions?
Follow the money.
The almighty (albeit less mighty than in years past) dollar controls it all, my friends. News, and for that matter all of media, is owned by someone or a group of someones. Forgive me for generalizing, but I’ll go out on a limb here and suggest that those someones would much rather see a bottom line in a black color (rather than red).
“Keep in mind, the news media are not independent; they are a sort of bulletin board and public relations firm for the ruling class — the people who run things. Those who decide what news you will or will not hear are paid by, and tolerated purely at the whim of, those who hold economic power. If the parent corporation doesn’t want you to know something, it won’t be on the news. Period. Or, at the very least, it will be slanted to suit them, and then rarely followed up. Enjoy the snooze.”
~George Carlin
If people reject real news for that which is merely interesting, they will tune it out and look for what they want to see.
If they tune it out, they won’t see advertisements for the new GMC Yukon, Ambien CR, or the next episode of the Gossip Girl on the first channel. The channel airing what they want will get that revenue.
Ad revenue goes toward media that draws the highest ratings, and it’s the people- US- that direct what is shown, printed, or spoken about. That’s where the money goes.
“Sure enough, as merger has followed merger, journalism has been driven further down the hierarchy of values in the huge conglomerates that dominate what we see, read and hear. And to feed the profit margins journalism has been directed to other priorities than “the news we need to know to keep our freedoms.”
~Bill Moyers, journalist
“The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything. Except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands.”
~Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright
“Honesty and tenacity (and for that matter, the working class) seem to have taken backseats to the sort of “snappy news”, sensationalism, scandal-for-the-sake of scandal crap that sells. This is not a uniquely Tribune or even newspaper industry problem: this is true from the Atlanta mixing rooms of CNN to Sulzberger’s offices in Times Square. Profits: that’s what it’s all about now. But you just can’t realize annual profit returns of more than 30 percent by methodically laying out the truth in a dignified, accessible manner. And it’s damned tough to find that truth every day with a mere skeleton crew of reporters and editors. All across America news organizations have been devoured by massive corporations, and allegiance to stockholders, the drive for higher share prices, and push for larger dividend returns trumps everything that the grunts in the newsrooms consider their missions.”
~Laurie Garrett, widely regarded former Newsday reporter
Thanks for allowing me to rant. It won’t happen too often, because it’s hockey season now and (QUICK, LOOK!) the Blackhawks are on a roll!
Besides, I have to get into my Yukon and go fill my ‘srip for Ambien if I’m going to stay up to watch Gossip Girl….
“And that’s the way it is.”
