Friday, October 24, 2008

The Death Of Journalism

This is a very sad piece written by Michael Malone, but it is one of the most honest critiques of the Dinosaur, Drive-By, Mainstream, Obama-Worshiping Media concerning the current election season.
What Mr. Malone admits is that there is a bias. And, I understand that. I actually studied journalism in college. Even then we were always taught the four Ws. Who, what, when and why. And it was always emphasised to get both sides of any story.
But, we are not getting that what so ever.
What we are getting according to Mr. Malone is the last gasp of a dying industry.
Read these last three paragraphs of Mr. Malone's piece to get an idea of what is really going on here:

In other words, you are facing career catastrophe -and desperate times call for desperate measures. Even if you have to risk everything on a single Hail Mary play. Even if you have to compromise the principles that got you here. After all, newspapers and network news are doomed anyway - all that counts is keeping them on life support until you can retire.

And then the opportunity presents itself: an attractive young candidate whose politics likely matches yours, but more important, he offers the prospect of a transformed Washington with the power to fix everything that has gone wrong in your career. With luck, this monolithic, single-party government will crush the alternative media via a revived Fairness Doctrine, re-invigorate unions by getting rid of secret votes, and just maybe, be beholden to people like you in the traditional media for getting it there.

And besides, you tell yourself, it’s all for the good of the country . . .

What Mr. Malone is writing is so frightening. Because I am afraid that it is true.
But, I offer a little bit of sanity in this insane bias.
From here on in, most Americans are now convinced more than ever that there is a wholesale, left-wing bias in most newspapers, all of network television (except for that pesky Fox News Channel that seems to be picking up viewers on a daily basis), and those who are in charge of how information is disseminated.
These people are living in the past. They have no clue about the alternative media. And because of that, they would rather sell their souls to maybe make it one more generation. And there is the hope that a one-party town will make that happen.
Oh, did I say alternative media.
Well, what is failing on these fossils is the fact that alternative media has made even the threat of a so-called fairness doctrine seem old and archaic.
And it is.
And that is why even in the worst case scenario, it will not come to pass.
Oh, the left will try. But, alternative media, both right and left, will oppose it like nothing else. They will make the lives of congressmen and senators miserable. If you thought that the DDBMSOWM assault on Joe the Plumber was disgusting, the congressmen and senators will have a wrath on them that will make the assault on Joe the Plumber look like nothing.
But, the sad fact is that these fossils, rather than looking at the new ways to get information, with little bias as possible, out to the public, are selling their souls to the devil.
And with that, many an honest journalist, not afraid of being truth tellers, are turning to this medium, talk-radio and yes, outlets like Fox News Channel to work for and or to be the next Woodward and Bernstein.
No matter who wins, the DDBMSOWM will continue the sclerosis and bleeding and it is so not necessary.
But, once a fossil, always a fossil.

5 comments:

Rightwingsnarkle said...

Wow, this post is a bit more incoherent than usual.

'Honest' journalists will turn to Fox "news?" That's a good one.

Speaking of good ones, this is just too freaking funny.

I think the accompanying photo is particularly awesome.

The seats in the lifeboats are filling up fast.

Righty64 said...

Link did not work, Mr. Snarkle. I know, I am just such an incoherent boob to you. BTW, what is YOUR education background. My question is why do you come to all of these sites. Oh, to save us from ourselves. The true mission of the left. For we are just so misguided. Z Z Z z z z . Oh, sorry. I was not the greatest student. So, it is kind of hard to get to someone like moi!

Rightwingsnarkle said...

The link didn't work for you?

Hmm, that's funny, because I just tried it, and it seems fine.

Oh, well, it was a link to David Frum's piece in the Sunday WaPo, saying that McCain's toast and that, if people don't act fast, he's gonna take down a whole pile of repub incumbents and candidates down with him.

When I call you incoherent, I'm referring to the difficulty I have following your thoughts, as expressed in the blog.

Some of it's poor sentence structure and grammar, and some of it's logic (or lack thereof) - your point 'A' seldom leads to a point 'B,' for example, and instead shifts to a point that isn't always in the alphabet.

But I hope you'll keep trying, and expect that you will. Most times, practice makes perfect.

I don't think you're a boob.

My education? A graduate degree. Why?

As to why I visit wingnut blogs - I visit fewer now than I used to. I'm under no illusions - the wingnut mind will not be changed. That's a fundamental fact.

It's more like an experiment in observation, in the same way that Jane Goodall watched apes.

As to why I come here - I guess it's because I kinda like you. I wrote about that here. (hope the link works).

I think you've got a sense of humor, and you've never deleted my posts (though, please, can you turn off comment moderation now?). You've actually engaged, and that makes you a very unique wingnut - even less of a wingnut, which is a hopeful thing.

Does that answer your question?

Pat Jenkins said...

and yet they have the means to keep on reporting 64!!! when will it catch up to them?

Anonymous said...

I'm guessin' the liberal media feels less inclined to pretend they lack bias today since there finally are alternatives.

Half the population has been denied a voice for decades. We're finally discovering that voice and leaving the MSM behind, forever.

I don't know if the future is in some as-yet-non-existent truly unbiased media source, or if a "split" will occur, with only strongly, blatantly biased sources remaining. I don't see the former happening, and I'm not pleased with the idea of the latter.