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The Problem with American Journalism

BulletWounD

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I've harvested this list of "news" stories from the CNN website. If you can't see the problem, you're blind.


1) All bad news, all the time.
2) Non-news mixed in with news
 
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How do you get people to do what you want them to do? Scare them of course! Maybe if they keep throwing all this information out there, we will be so scared of everyone else that we will go to war... oh wait

I don't like it but it's how it works. I get my news from The Real News
 

That's a wonderful non-biased source of news. :roll:

I get my news through the Google News aggregation service. That way I can see the news from all perspectives. From Fox, to CNN, to Al-jezeera, to Xinhua, etc. I also visit various news websites so I'm not bound to the selective reporting of one outlet alone.
 
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BulletWounD said:
I've harvested this list of "news" stories from the CNN website. If you can't see the problem, you're blind.



1) All bad news, all the time.
2) Non-news mixed in with news
Click to expand...

Do you think the problem lies mainly with the people who deliver the headlines, or the people who tune into the headlines?

 
BulletWounD said:
I've harvested this list of "news" stories from the CNN website. If you can't see the problem, you're blind.



1) All bad news, all the time.
2) Non-news mixed in with news
Click to expand...

The media exists to make money, not report the news. The items that sell are sex, scandals, and war (i.e. bad news).

When have you ever seen a big news station, newspaper, or media outlet make their money entirely off of "good news"?

They are a business that is in it to make money, not give everyone a fuzzy feeling.
 

They make money by reporting news... You'd think there would be money to be made in a balanced, objective, television news outlet without all the fluff and bs.

It's unbalanced. Most stories on television are bad. A lot of them aren't even news (ie "celeb gossip" and all that ****).
 
BulletWounD said:
They make money by reporting news... You'd think there would be money to be made in a balanced, objective, television news outlet without all the fluff and bs.
Click to expand...

Nope, to make money they need listeners and readers. You get that by sensationalism.

BulletWounD said:
It's unbalanced. Most stories on television are bad. A lot of them aren't even news (ie "celeb gossip" and all that ****).
Click to expand...

That is what most listeners and readers want. If they didn't, they wouldn't be watching it.
 
TheNextEra said:
Nope, to make money they need listeners and readers. You get that by sensationalism.
Click to expand...

There are a ton of people out there who don't want sensationalism, myself included.

That is what most listeners and readers want. If they didn't, they wouldn't be watching it.
Click to expand...

That's the unfortunate part. Our society has become so infantile that they want this crap. Reversing this trend can't be done by the government.
 
A major contributor is that all the major news agencies are owned by what? Like 4 or so companies. Thanks Clinton.
 
Ikari said:
A major contributor is that all the major news agencies are owned by what? Like 4 or so companies. Thanks Clinton.
Click to expand...

How did Clinton do that?
 
Ikari said:
A major contributor is that all the major news agencies are owned by what? Like 4 or so companies. Thanks Clinton.
Click to expand...

The consolidation of the media industry started under Reagan.
 
BulletWounD said:
There are a ton of people out there who don't want sensationalism, myself included.
Click to expand...

Obviously not enough for them to change the way they work. Face it, you mean nothing as far as money is concerned to these people. Welcome to capitalism.

BulletWounD said:
That's the unfortunate part. Our society has become so infantile that they want this crap.
Click to expand...

When more people care about American Idol than what's going on in the world, you get this.

You can more easily get people to tell who is on "Dancing with the Stars" than you will with knowledge about North Korean's rocket launch.

The sad part is that the NK rocket launch WAS put on the media almost everywhere and many people STILL didn't care enough to read about it or glance at it.
 
TheNextEra said:
Obviously not enough for them to change the way they work. Face it, you mean nothing as far as money is concerned to these people. Welcome to capitalism.
Click to expand...

I don't know if you're trying to make a point or what. If you want to see the media change you're going to have to involve yourself with changing the outlook of the masses.


They wont start caring about that kind of stuff until we're attacked again and their children are sent off to war.
 
BulletWounD said:
I don't know if you're trying to make a point or what. If you want to see the media change you're going to have to involve yourself with changing the outlook of the masses.
Click to expand...

Good luck with that and let me know how it goes. Tell me what your plan to change people from caring about American Idol or reality t.v. back to News is going to be? I've tried many times with people I know to get them to care about the country and politics, but I finally gave up and have finally just accepted the fact many people are idiots.

BulletWounD said:
They wont start caring about that kind of stuff until we're attacked again and their children are sent off to war.
Click to expand...

You're probably right about that.
 
BulletWounD said:
They make money by reporting news... You'd think there would be money to be made in a balanced, objective, television news outlet without all the fluff and bs.
Click to expand...

If your market was educated people who took the time to research what was on the news and weren't swayed by missing white girl in Aruba/NFL stars kills girlfriend, yes. However, that ain't the audience that is watching.

It's unbalanced. Most stories on television are bad. A lot of them aren't even news (ie "celeb gossip" and all that ****).
Click to expand...

You're not the first person who is scared of the merging of news and entertainment.
 
BulletWounD said:
I've harvested this list of "news" stories from the CNN website. If you can't see the problem, you're blind.



1) All bad news, all the time.
2) Non-news mixed in with news
Click to expand...
I agree.

If you want real, honest, tough coverage of American politics, the foreign media seems to be a good way to go. They're usually out to blast American politicians, so they function like watchdogs (something the U.S. media should be doing).
 
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