"Everywhere I look people are screaming about how bad government is-"
"What's your position?"
"That they should know what they're screaming about."
Do I throw out free advertising (like they need it) for HBO's new show, "The Newsroom?" Well, I'm going to.
This looks fantastic and hilarious.
It poses a really serious and true question: How do you fix breaking news? I just happened to come across this trailer after publishing the last post, and it really flows in the same vein. I think a 24 hour news cycle (on broadcast news) can be seriously detrimental...but that will be for another time.
Should the media take the blame for widespread ignorance and misinformation in America?
Bill Maher let loose on the media during Friday’s “New
Rules,” accusing American media of serving scandal instead of information.
“Oh yes, it is easy to make fun of the media, and there’s a
good reason for that- they suck,” he told listeners.
“I watched three network news broadcasts Monday night, and
here is what they covered: the weather, which isn’t news, and can be better
covered by the local news which tells you how deep that is….then they did a
story about World Peace; not the issue, the basketball player. And then, I shit
you not, a story about how highway traffic in California was delayed because a
family of ducks was trying to cross the road. You stay classy, San Diego.”
He continued by lambasting the national media for their
over-coverage and alarmist stories about the ‘Secret Service prostitute
scandal.’
“The only politics we understand is scandal, and the only
scandal we understand is sex,” Maher said.
You can watch the full segment here:
Despite what you think of Maher- smug, entitled, elitist,
misogynist, hyper-liberal- he has a valid point. The media has become a servant
to scandal, but it isn’t entirely their fault.
He points out that
Newt Gingrich had committed “every crime except grave-robbing” but was only
ousted (metaphorically) by his party when sex scandals popped up. An
extra-marital blow job is what got President Clinton impeached. Everyone knows
the sordid details of John Edwards impregnating his campaign worker while his
wife fought, and eventually succumbed to, cancer. I have clearly defined
opinions about John Edwards’ morality, but do I need to hear about Rielle and
John’s wedding? Do I need to learn about his love child?
Public interest dictates news content in the world of the
24-hour news cycle and business-model journalism. For many news orgs, who
operate as a business, page views and ad-clicks are the essential elements to
success- not a thought-provoking column on teacher tenure policy. But a teacher
who has sex with her student? That is the news of today.
How can we change this cycle, or can it even be changed?
Part of it has to be the will of the consumers. You can read
Perez Hilton and Gawker, but you have to check with Roll Call and New York
Times after. Treat the newspapers who provide policy analysis like a gem to be
treasured, because they are few and far between and could quickly disappear
beneath stacks of Fox News, NBC, and CNN conglomerates.
Inane articles can build up ad subsidies when an
organization is starting out, but if they consistently rely on that type of
content to grow the organization the audience will begin to go elsewhere.
Strange, interesting, fun news is a lesser evil in journalism: it attracts
readers, which organizations need to stay alive. But perhaps organizations can use these filler-stories to attract page views for other stories, the kind that benefit the community and promote discussion.
It’s a tough problem, which is why it still exists.
Does scandal have a(n important) role in today's news?
How can
news organizations create better content, analytical content, while still
attracting valuable eyeballs to their site?
When I was a freshman in Journalism school, I was
intimidated and anxious, but excited about the certain brilliant career I had
before me. I would have a brilliant career after all because I was an editor
for my high school paper. I also won a writing award, that one time. I was at a
world-renowned journalism school, working for real newsrooms. I would travel
and meet famous people (Hillary Clinton famous, not Megan Fox- I was a serious journalist). Maybe I would write
a column for The New York Times, and when I earned enough, move back to St.
Louis to career-climb at the Post Dispatch and start an alternative weekly.
Those would be the days.
This illusion lasted until my first journalism class, when the
Dean of the Journalism School told us we could expect to make $27,000 after
graduation. After $20,000 in student debt, that was a low blow. I still think
he thought it was amusing.
I stuck with it though. I could deal with an unfortunate
starting salary. What started to eat at me though were the attitudes held
toward journalists and journalism students. And when I started to learn what
corporate journalism was really about, I became pretty disgusted, too.
It’s hard to pinpoint “the problem” with how the media
report policy issues.
Press organizations are bound in a business model that can
limit content and discussion. They have to make money to survive, so they write
about the inane, the strange….blatantly, unimportant things people like to read
about. I read Dlisted every morning before I read John Combest. I can identify.
They avoid important political discussions to please
advertisers.
In my Capstone class, my Political Science professor said,
“The problem with the media is that it is problem-focused instead of
solution-focused.” I responded, “They can’t help it!” How can anyone expect the
media to suggest solutions to public policy problems? The backlash would
be unbelievable.
I wanted to create this blog to provide some source of
solution-focused content. Maybe media and policy analysis. I’m not really sure
what I want this blog to be, but I do know I want it to be a source of
discussion.
I am coming at all analysis with a blank slate. I want the
truth, the pragmatic reality, what should
be. If I’m wrong, then tell me why. After years of writing policy memos, I
want someone outside a Political Science Department to learn the facts about
public policies that the conventional media has failed to convey.
That’s what I want to create. Hopefully this is a start.
