Other than having lived my "three score and ten", I have no unique qualifications for
being a media critic. But, I have paid attention to politics for half a century now, and have noticed a few things about what and who makes the evening news and dominates social media coverage.
There was a time when the corporate networks provided objective news reporting more or less as a public service. News divisions were not expected to make a profit but, hey, they made us a more informed electorate and most everyone thought that a good thing.
Today, news programs ARE expected to turn a profit and that means advertisers and that means anything that increases viewership increases profit and is "good". Hard nosed responsible journalism which is not "entertaining" enough will eventually be replaced by talking heads who tell people what they want to hear or, better perhaps, what is the most outrageous.
So---let's be very careful about what we buy into and what we allow to shape our opinions. Like "IMPEACHMENT ISSUE REVEALS DEMOCRATS' DEEP DIVISIONS" or "Candidate A says Candidate B isn't electable".
Grain of salt? Check.
Common sense? Check.
Trust my gut? Absolutely.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Back in the day news programs were solely done by the different channels as a public service and had no connection to the normal broadcast grind for that reason. Then, in the seventies, these stations, like almost all of Hollywood, were 'corporatized'. From that time on, every single second of air time had to turn a profit. News programs were being compared to prime time offerings and expected to hold their own in this new corporate model. Well, how in the world do you compete with sensational Hollywood? You do the same thing, of course. The problem with this is that you stop being news and start being a 'show', just like all the drivel on the television and cable and online streams. Why hold credibility when you can use hype? So, the news programs became a form of 'reality television' which, as we all know, is not 'reality'. (I have often found programming that calls itself 'reality' television is a prime example of just how warped our society has become. Trying to pass off such scripted junk as 'reality'... I mean, really...)
