Finally -- Journalism!

Email Print posted by Cenk 01/25/2007 03:32:55 AM EST

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Finally, journalism makes a triumphant return. It's not on the front page. It's not all the buzz. But this article in the Washington Post is the most clear eyed, fact-based piece of reporting I have seen in a long time.

It seems so different and refreshing because it the press has been intimidated from reporting obvious realities for soooooo long. But here it is -- the facts and nothing but the facts.

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Finally -- Journalism! | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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by yturks on 01/25/2007 05:28:18 AM EST

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Reading this article certainly does give one nostalgia.  Wistful remembrances of a time long gone by when the economy was strong, the country was at peace, one man managed to convince an overwhelming percentage of the young ladies of America that a blowjob didn't count as sex (greatest presidential contribution ever!!!) and reporters bothered to investigate things.
You see, I have a Journalism degree (acroso just screamed: "AHA! That explains everything!!!!").  ; And back in J-school (or as we called it, the Madrasa) we learned about things like checking out information, proper sourcing, how to write something to be sure it couldn't be misinterpreted and general all-around reporting. 
Now I am not in journalism now but that would have apparently been a huge waste of my time.
Here is what blows me away about today's news, particularly the broadcast news.
Thier idea of reporting is just to tell us what other "news" outlets are saying.  What?
If I wanted to get the news on other outlets, I would just go there.  If I wanted to know what Insight or whatever the hell it is had to say I would spend that half hour reading Insight not watching your stupid news so you can tell me what was in Insight.
What kind of career is this?  Fox News, I imagine, pays pretty damn well and that is what you produce?  A summary of someone else's story?  You can't even write (and God forbid research) your own story?
What kind of budget do you think a network news bureau has?  And all they can do is tell you whats on Drudge? or World Net Daily? or some doofus' blog?  It's like we have become so lazy and apathetic we have to have somebody sit there and compile and read other people's news (and opinions on the news!) to us?
And it's not just Fox, any story that begins "[insert other news source here] is reporting blah blah blah" and has no follow up or different angle generated by that news agency is a disgrace.
I understand sometimes someone else breaks a story and you want to get it on air and can't go "rebreak" the story but since you didn't waste any time or effort investigating or crafting the story maybe you could take a couple of minutes to make sure its true.
Of course what media outlets do is hide behind the "we didn't claim it was true we just said [insert news source] said it was true."  Which is crap.  All kinds of people say all kinds of things everyday.  If the news is going to report something) they have an obligation to investigate it no matter what media outlet it comes from.
I remember in the 80s on one of the religious nut job "news" shows they reported how the Holocaust probably didn't happen.  People went crazy and now we get to make fun of the religious nuts for it.  The networks reported it like this "so and so said the Holocaust never happened, here's some really respected experts and a mountain of evidence it really did, wtf with these religious news outlets?" 
See, they repeated the original report and then tacked on what they found when they investigated.  Somewhere in the last decade, that just disappeared. 

by ProfRich on 01/26/2007 04:59:10 PM EST

Finally -- Journalism! | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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