The state of American journalism

[Chary]

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Regardless of your view of the current US President, I have to ask, what is going on with this country's news/journalism?

We're reaching some sort of journalistic critical mass of stupidity. Walter Cronkite is probably rolling over in his grave in shame. Let's be real, though--Fox News has always been slanted, and there's always been clickbait headlines since the dawn of newspapers. I'm not saying journalism used to be perfect, but there is a clear and definite decline in the quality of the industry. Newsrooms are disregarding stories that might actually matter to the American public, in favor of debating if Trump said a swear word during a meeting. "My source said he did!" "My source said he didn't!!", and apparently this oh so important piece of news is dominating every other article and headline for the week. If you thought Trump was racist to begin with, and did indeed say it, or if you think Trump isn't racist and didn't say it, your opinion won't be swayed. Because all these stories boil down to "he said she said" hearsay, and not actual facts.

What's the number 2 story of the day? Oprah rumors of becoming president. Oh yes, you heard it right, the second biggest hit of the day is yet another celebrity potentially running for office. I didn't think 2016's election could be outclassed further in ridiculousity of candidates, but we're setting ourselves up for further madness.

If you stop looking at American news sites like CNN/Fox/NY Times/WaPost/etc, and go on over to BBC, you see the same news story, reported on one singular article. They discuss the context of what Trump's words are, if true, the comments of the people involved, the reaction of other countries, and how news sites reacted to the story. It didn't have anything sensationalist, nor did it really boast a title that stood out compared to the other sites. It mostly relied on...surprise; just reporting the story as it happened. Their front page also has much more variety than the previously mentioned websites. I'm not someone who's read much BBC in the past, so perhaps this is just an outlier, but from just researching their content for the sake of this thread, it's leagues above everything else I've read so far, and actually, shockingly, feels like what journalism should be. Why aren't more sites like this?

This thread was just the ramblings off the top of my head, and really doesn't have a point, and I apologize if my words are disjointed--I just felt like discussing the absolute, blithering, pandering news outlets, and how there's been a huge flip on how Americans process their news. Are we more focused on news as a whole? Yeah, we can't go 2 minutes without hearing about Trump--but what of the quality? Just because we're paying attention to news more doesn't mean the actual news we consume is quality content. Also, I just wanted to find a reason to make a thread in this new section ;O;

 

[Meteor7]

I've tuned out mainline American news sources long ago for these very reasons. Their general incompetence and lack of both professional and personal integrity only serve to make me disappointed, not informed, even more so when realizing that the enablers are the general public themselves. When the focus is solely on accruing views and not contributing to meaningfully and accurately informing the general public, then this is how things will trend. Unfortunately, so long as that behavior is still what benefits them the most, nothing will change, and as far as I can tell, the only way to reverse that situation is to have the American public refuse to give patronage in response to that behaviour.

 

[DaMan]

BBC is government funded so they don't have to run clickbait stories. You'd probably find similar coverage on PBS/NPR.

 

[Kioku]

It's becoming a "he said/she said" mess. It's borderline depressing to know that the media, who is supposed to be a voice OF the people is spiraling downward into a cesspool of bribes and biased agendas. Standard Red and Blue politics aside? Seeing so many stories taken out of context to wrongly fit the puzzle. The lack of consistency among various outlets is concerning at best. It's dividing the people even further. What to do.. oh, what to do...

 

[Joe88]

relevant

 

[Deleted User]

Occasionally, me and my dad will turn on CNN to just watch them complain about Trump and generally mock their incompetence. It's almost entertaining. Almost.

It's not just CNN, though. Fox News is, and always has been, horribly biased towards the right, and their "fair and balanced" mantra is nothing more than a joke at this point. Sometimes, in the mornings, I'll pick up this free newspaper called The Metro (a local Boston organization), and they don't even try to be unbiased; they obviously hate Trump, and will sneak comments about Trump even into stuff that is not even about politics. Literally, there was this one article about Larry David, and, when interviewing, they pressured him about Trump. He responded by stating he prefers not to bring politics into his works. Apparently, this mutated into "Trump is banned from his joke list" on the front page. It's depressing.

At this point, you have to go to several different sources and infer the truth out of their conflicting opinions just get a clearer picture of what's going on. Sadly, not that many people have the time nor energy to spend on news, so we end up getting our news from totally biased sources, and thus become totally biased ourselves. It certainly is a sad day for American journalism. If I wanted an opinion piece, I'd go to the opinion section.

 

[Viri]

The 2016 election kinda solidified how bias the MSM is. Also, Haiti kinda is a shit hole, but it's not really the citizens fault. They have a pretty shitty corrupt gov, and mother nature just loves to fuck them over. Also, they deforested the fuck out of Haiti, which is making it pretty damn hot there.

What's the number 2 story of the day? Oprah rumors of becoming president. Oh yes, you heard it right, the second biggest hit of the day is yet another celebrity potentially running for office. I didn't think 2016's election could be outclassed further in ridiculousity of candidates, but we're setting ourselves up for further madness.

It was pretty funny seeing NBC trip all over them self freaking out on Twitter, trying to not be bias, and deleting their Tweet. If Oprah does run, I hope NBC is barred from hosting the debates. Because they're obv bias.

 

[Pluupy]

Stick to local news, not global or national news.

 

[Deleted User]

Stick to local news, not global or national news.

Even local news can be biased, as is the case with many local News channels, who are often given instructions from their parent companies.

 

[Pluupy]

Even local news can be biased, as is the case with many local News channels, who are often given instructions from their parent companies.

My local news only reports on local affairs and hence stick to actual journalism.

 

[gman666]

Journalism has fallen since the early 70's... Journalistic integrity and non biased reporting are rejected in favor of sensationalized and highly advertised/monetized news stories. News outlets were meant to be a public service for citizenry, funded by the corporations, and lead by intellectual people. Now it's just another way to scare old people into buying shitty insurance and products they don't need. Many people would argue that at a time when America is faced with evil, reporters should take a stand and use the platform to push people in the right direction, but that is not the job of a journalist. A journalist should present information in its most purest factual form and allow the people to decide what is right and wrong. However, we must remember that the citizenry also has a duty to fulfill. People should always be critical in what they hear/see, but critical thinking based in factual evidence is what is most important. Fact - checking and proper citation and non biased thinking is basic shit people!!

 

[Viri]

Journalism has fallen since the early 70's...

Gee, I wonder why...

Spoiler

 

[Xzi]

Trump is the biggest news since Nixon, it's not surprising that they mostly focus on him. I wish they would vary it up more, sure, but it is important that people understand the damage he's doing both at home and on the world stage. Say what you want about Obama, but the fact of the matter is that the US was still a world leader while he was in office. Now the US is at the back of the short bus. Journalism did not bring us to these new lows, they're only following the lows of Trump's daily life. To some extent we get dragged down into the mud with his lows, but that's to be expected since he's president.

 

[330]

I'm glad that there are still people admitting how biased American journalism can be. That's why I spent a considerable amount of time looking for the best neutral news outlets there are. It's like if Sony and Microsoft decided to stop making consoles because Nintendo is selling theirs so well and all the gaming "journalists" would crap on Nintendo 24/7. I just read the main stories on a paid website called Wall Street Journal. The mainstream journalists became such garbage that I'd rather pay to not hear about how Trump is literally Hitler for the umpteenth time.

 

[Xzi]

I'm glad that there are still people admitting how biased American journalism can be. That's why I spent a considerable amount of time looking for the best neutral news outlets there are. It's like if Sony and Microsoft decided to stop making consoles because Nintendo is selling theirs so well and all the gaming "journalists" would crap on Nintendo 24/7. I just read the main stories on a paid website called Wall Street Journal. The mainstream journalists became such garbage that I'd rather pay to not hear about how Trump is literally Hitler for the umpteenth time.

It has nothing to do with bias when Trump publicly calls other countries shitholes and causes the resignation of ambassadors. The real problem is normalizing this type of behavior for the president, when any of the other 44 would've been impeached for it. The media can be partly to blame for this normalization, but they are calling it like they see it, as racism, in this case.

 

[330]

It has nothing to do with bias when Trump publicly calls other countries shitholes and causes the resignation of ambassadors. The real problem is normalizing this type of behavior for the president, when any of the other 44 would've been impeached for it.

It's the journalists' fault for reporting unworthy news just to try change the public opinion of him with nothing. You can shout "wolf! Wolf" only a few times before no one will come when there's a real one.

 

[Xzi]

It's the journalists' fault for reporting unworthy news just to try change the public opinion of him with nothing. You can shout "wolf! Wolf" only a few times before no one will come when there's a real one.

Again, you're only calling it unworthy because you're used to this type of stupid bullshit coming from Trump's mouth. It may not damage you personally, but it certainly damages the US' image.

Late edit: the OP seems to suggest that Trump perhaps didn't make those "shithole" remarks, but there have been several confirming statements made by various people since. Even confirming Trump echoed the statements "several times." FFS, a Democrat was in the room. Maybe Trump forgot where he was?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/durbin-trump-shithole_us_5a58c7ffe4b02cebbfdb29c8

 

[MaverickWellington]

Sensationalism is a fucking terrible disease and it only goes to muddy debates and factual reporting. Say whatever you will about trump, but when grown adults are reporting like overemotional teenage girls in a school news paper instead of reserved adults like the BBC's reports on the topic, you're not dealing with journalists, you're dealing with children.

People are gonna waver this kind of criticism of the media with some stupid shit like "well it's trump so it's okay" or "s-sure they're acting stupid but who cares don't criticize that the media can say whatever they want" which is an incredibly dangerous slippery slope into "the media is never wrong and should always be trusted at face value."

People are desperate, and people are stupid. That's why the book Fire and Fury is even selling. Sensationalism has taken American society by the balls and it's turning a lot of people into morons.

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slightly off topic but seriously though, that mudd guy can give a really emotional speech. Dude should be an actor.

 

[Xzi]

People are desperate, and people are stupid. That's why the book Fire and Fury is even selling.

I actually agreed with you up to that point, Fire and Fury contains tamer claims than most sensationalist TV journalism, and it's based on face to face interviews. You can try all day to cry "fake news" on that, it won't work.

 

[330]

Again, you're only calling it unworthy because you're used to this type of stupid bullshit coming from Trump's mouth. It may not damage you personally, but it certainly damages the US' image.

The only thing that's damaging the US image are liberals thinking that they're so hip by destroying public property, stalking people online, sending death threats and protesting violently over a president that half the population democratically voted for.

You got a problem with the president? Criticize the decisions he takes that you don't agree to. Go to authorized protests. Express your malcontent. Be open for discussion with people that voted for him.

What happens instead? People protest violently and illegally. Journalists criticize every single thing of the president. They protest, but aren't open to explain why. According to them, everything is fascist, yet all the things these people are doing are part of the fascist regime. No wonder why people won't listen to protests when the president actually does something bad. I've been vocal about his stance regarding global warming, but my voice was lost to all the garbage I listed above.

What liberals have done is making any protest towards Trump a joke. You can now protest all you want but people won't care because they are tired of listening to people complaining about every single thing he does. He won't get impeached. He won't step down. Hell, he won't even get murdered, as many people want him to be (seriously, what's wrong with people?). They are fighting the big boogeyman, the "fascists", using fascist tactics. I am not the slightest bit of surprised that people decide not to listen to those who talk about seriously getting PTSD from "Trump trauma".