Why has News in America gotten so bad ?

[jojoju1998]

Where are our PBSs ?? Why does CNN take up all the space ?

Where are the Walter Cronkites ? The Tom Brokaws ?

[BG-NY]

There aren’t Walter Cronkites or Tom Brokaws, but there are Joy Reids and Don Lemons.

[jojoju1998]

There aren’t Walter Cronkites or Tom Brokaws, but there are Joy Reids and Don Lemons.

Also remember that it was Fox News who pushed for the News Media to be deregulated in the 1990s, thus accelerating the problems we have now.

[Del Tachi]

There aren’t Walter Cronkites or Tom Brokaws, but there are Joy Reids and Don Lemons.

Also remember that it was Fox News who pushed for the News Media to be deregulated in the 1990s, thus accelerating the problems we have now.

The Fairness Doctrine (if that's what you're getting at) never applied to Fox News or any other cable news station because they aren't broadcast services, as consumers must pay for them.  Stop spreading myths

[HillGoose]

bcuz idots

[GoTfan]

For the last thirty years or so, news media has been subjet to what I call 'sportsification'. Basically, the priority with a lot of sports coverage is to get as many eyeballs on the screen as possible, which means that major events become big advertising draws. Spots for an Ashes Test or the Superbowl don't come cheap, primarily because they are the biggest events around.

News has become 'sportsified' in that it has continually chased, for the last thirty years, that advertising money. This is because they've been systematically introducing more and more 'experts' who seemingly compete to say the most outrageous things. I use the term 'experts' loosely because they are often just trying to find something controversial to say.

The problem is that the news these days does not cover actual issues, because that would rock the boat. To use an example from Australia, the ABC was leaked a series of documents called the Afghan Files, detailing Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. The response of the government was not to investigate the findings and prosecute the soldiers resposible, but instead raid the ABC office.

This sort of thing has terrified news outlets into not reporting important news such as the Afghan Files. Instead, they're content to run with the latest traffic collision in the area, or something along those lines. The slogan "If it bleeds, it leads." Exists for a reason.

This is why Trump was a godsend to these people. Everything he said was so outrageous that it was being covered 24 hours a day. I seem to recall an incident in 2016 where Sanders won a primary, and instead of letting their audience hear his victory speech, they cut to an empty podium waiting for Trump to speak while his supporters were still filtering in. Trump was a ratings smash; it didn't matter what he said because they could count on people to watch their shows for the coverage. His attacks on outlets like CNN made things worse because these outlets, despite objectively being one of the groups most responsible for his rise, got to play the part of the embattled truth-seekers.

The final aspect is that a lot of these news shows in the US have been constructed around thew host's personality more than anything, and frequently they're set up to clash with someone like Jeffrey Lorde.

Neil Postman predicted this in 1985 when he wrote Amusing Ourselves to Death:

The effect on political life will be devastating. There will be less emphasis on issues, substance, and ideology, and an increase in the importance of image and style. Politicians will have greater concern for moment-to-moment shifts in public opinion, less concern for long-range policies. Unless the use of television for political campaigns is strictly prohibited, elections may be decided by which party spends more on television and media consultants. The line between political life and entertainment will blur, and movie and television stars may be taken seriously as political candidates

TL, DR: Journalists are chasing ratings instead of stories and it's making us all dumber.

[Calthrina950]

For the last thirty years or so, news media has been subjet to what I call 'sportsification'. Basically, the priority with a lot of sports coverage is to get as many eyeballs on the screen as possible, which means that major events become big advertising draws. Spots for an Ashes Test or the Superbowl don't come cheap, primarily because they are the biggest events around.

News has become 'sportsified' in that it has continually chased, for the last thirty years, that advertising money. This is because they've been systematically introducing more and more 'experts' who seemingly compete to say the most outrageous things. I use the term 'experts' loosely because they are often just trying to find something controversial to say.

The problem is that the news these days does not cover actual issues, because that would rock the boat. To use an example from Australia, the ABC was leaked a series of documents called the Afghan Files, detailing Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. The response of the government was not to investigate the findings and prosecute the soldiers resposible, but instead raid the ABC office.

This sort of thing has terrified news outlets into not reporting important news such as the Afghan Files. Instead, they're content to run with the latest traffic collision in the area, or something along those lines. The slogan "If it bleeds, it leads." Exists for a reason.

This is why Trump was a godsend to these people. Everything he said was so outrageous that it was being covered 24 hours a day. I seem to recall an incident in 2016 where Sanders won a primary, and instead of letting their audience hear his victory speech, they cut to an empty podium waiting for Trump to speak while his supporters were still filtering in. Trump was a ratings smash; it didn't matter what he said because they could count on people to watch their shows for the coverage. His attacks on outlets like CNN made things worse because these outlets, despite objectively being one of the groups most responsible for his rise, got to play the part of the embattled truth-seekers.

The final aspect is that a lot of these news shows in the US have been constructed around thew host's personality more than anything, and frequently they're set up to clash with someone like Jeffrey Lorde.

Neil Postman predicted this in 1985 when he wrote Amusing Ourselves to Death:

The effect on political life will be devastating. There will be less emphasis on issues, substance, and ideology, and an increase in the importance of image and style. Politicians will have greater concern for moment-to-moment shifts in public opinion, less concern for long-range policies. Unless the use of television for political campaigns is strictly prohibited, elections may be decided by which party spends more on television and media consultants. The line between political life and entertainment will blur, and movie and television stars may be taken seriously as political candidates

TL, DR: Journalists are chasing ratings instead of stories and it's making us all dumber.

This is a good summation of what has occurred with the media. It has become much more sensationalist, and it is driven by ratings and profits, above all else. In some ways, however, I think the media is returning to the practices seen in the days of "Yellow Journalism", back in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Such practices have merely been updated using modern technologies (i.e., social media) and modern techniques (i.e., "breaking news" alerts and the like).

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

There's been a decline, but some perspective is important here. There was much more propaganda pre-Vietnam.

[DaleCooper]

Tabloid media and news media became one and the same.

[progressive85]

It turns out the Conservatives that bitched for years about network news being so liberal and have replaced it with 24/7 cable news from dull and craven partisan pundits were wrong...

Walter Cronkite represented the Liberal News Media at its finest.

[Hammy]

Tabloid media and news media became one and the same.

Pretty much this. Everything in America has become purely profit driven, an the media knows there's a market for scare tactics and sensationalism--so they geared their entire business around catering exclusively to this.

[DaleCooper]

Tabloid media and news media became one and the same.

Pretty much this. Everything in America has become purely profit driven, an the media knows there's a market for scare tactics and sensationalism--so they geared their entire business around catering exclusively to this.

Oh yeah, and the only thing that changes from outlet to outlet is the ideological paint job the publication tries to smear on the story. For example, you'll have the New York Times writing about how bad of a boyfriend Justin Timberlake was 30 years ago but writing about it with the #MeToo tone to appeal to their snooty liberal audience. Then you have conservative outlets taking the offended patriotic hometown USA angle where they get up in arms over how offensive it is to them that a black lady got to play a Bond Girl in the recent movie. It's all tabloid crap, just with the ideological paint-job to make it seem like real news, and it's designed to get people angry.

[Central Lake]

Glad to see a reference to test match cricket.

[GregTheGreat657]

Because things aren't going so well. Additionally, most 'journalists' are little more than opinion writers with degrees. This goes for both sides.

[GP270watch]

 Because media is decentralized but at the same time corporatized, since it's for profit people can look for and find the news that already fits their worldview. Also post Nixon, scandal has been what motivates all journalism. Whether it be politcal, sports, entertainment it's a perpetual scandal machine and it doesn't matter if there is an actual scandal or not. I remember thinking WTF is going on many years back when there was a gaggle of reporters in Terrell Owens driveway watching him do sit-ups.

[Ferguson97]

There aren’t Walter Cronkites or Tom Brokaws, but there are Joy Reids and Don Lemons.

Hmm, I wonder why you picked Reid and Lemon specifically...

[Hermit For Peace]

It's probably gotten worse because it's what the public accepts. I don't know if the media controls the conversation in America or if it's the public who controls it by the things they choose to watch. Maybe some of both?

[Fuzzy Bear]

There aren’t Walter Cronkites or Tom Brokaws, but there are Joy Reids and Don Lemons.

Hmm, I wonder why you picked Reid and Lemon specifically...

Because they have no integrity.

Of course, that doesn't make them stand out in today's media.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

There aren’t Walter Cronkites or Tom Brokaws, but there are Joy Reids and Don Lemons.

Hmm, I wonder why you picked Reid and Lemon specifically...

A big part of Fuzzy's schtick is being very blatant about what he is, and then pretending to get mad when he's called on it. (The MO of most Republicans, really.)

[Big Abraham]

There aren’t Walter Cronkites or Tom Brokaws, but there are Joy Reids and Don Lemons.

Hmm, I wonder why you picked Reid and Lemon specifically...

Probably because they are obnoxious neoliberals.

[Badger]

There aren’t Walter Cronkites or Tom Brokaws, but there are Joy Reids and Don Lemons.

Also remember that it was Fox News who pushed for the News Media to be deregulated in the 1990s, thus accelerating the problems we have now.

The Fairness Doctrine (if that's what you're getting at) never applied to Fox News or any other cable news station because they aren't broadcast services, as consumers must pay for them.  Stop spreading myths

 The institution of Fox News grew directly out of repeal the fairness doctrine. Roger ailes set himself said as much. Just saying.

[OSR stands with Israel]

There aren’t Walter Cronkites or Tom Brokaws, but there are Joy Reids and Don Lemons.

Also remember that it was Fox News who pushed for the News Media to be deregulated in the 1990s, thus accelerating the problems we have now.

The Fairness Doctrine (if that's what you're getting at) never applied to Fox News or any other cable news station because they aren't broadcast services, as consumers must pay for them.  Stop spreading myths

 The institution of Fox News grew directly out of repeal the fairness doctrine. Roger ailes set himself said as much. Just saying.

Bush-era Fox though was definitely better than Trump-era Fox

[Crumpets]

It's a legacy effect. We're judging "the media" as CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, because they have been the dominant players for the last couple decades. But good media outside of those three does exist, even if it's not thriving or mainstream (yet). The media won't be reformed because cable news suddenly fixes itself, but because people will just move on to other sources. Rather than becoming dumbed-down or sports-like, my biggest concern for the news media going forward is that it will become more and more siloed than it already is. People won't have even a basic set of facts they can agree on to debate because something that gets wall-to-wall coverage on OANN doesn't even begin to enter the discussion on something like Democracy Now, and the audiences of each won't even be able to agree on a common reality, let alone reach consensus on any particular issue.

[Ferguson97]

There aren’t Walter Cronkites or Tom Brokaws, but there are Joy Reids and Don Lemons.

Hmm, I wonder why you picked Reid and Lemon specifically...

Probably because they are obnoxious neoliberals.

But why not pick, say, Chris Cuomo, Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, or Wolf Blitzer? Or you know, Tucker goddamn Carlson...

I think we both know why BG-NY picked Reid and Lemon

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

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