# What has happened to journalism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 23, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642 "2015-01-23T01:52:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/21 "2015-01-23T10:12:53Z")
It’s 24 hours a day. Quantity \> Quality. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/22 "2015-01-23T12:04:37Z")
> [@vomit\_comet](#): > > What’s so special about 10 days from now? First: **Best Username/Post Comment Of The Week!** Second, yeah the other stuff is a Lot more important than “Tooky-Poof Bum Gives Dolts The Air” and “Page 3 Special- Sheldon Gets Big Clang!”. Better news sources Should have better reporting on what matters. Stories that should be there: \*\*\*\*\* Abdullah’s Death: Possible policy shift from US with SA? Price of Gasoline re: production? New mid-east target for ISIL? \*\*\*\*\* Yemeni Coup: Will this be a new oil-fueled terrorist training ground? Will this affect tanker-ship safety passing from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Adan to the Arabian Sea? (You bet Djibouti…!) \*\*\*\*\* Truce Fails in Ukraine: Putin ships in enough Military Gear to supply World War 3. Twice. Hundreds killed at Donetsk airport. \*\*\*\*\* Cuba-US Relations: Steady progress through some rough waves \*\*\*\*\* Asteroid 2004 BL86: High and to the Outside \*\*\*\*\* US Rents: An upward spiral? Do New York’s Emergency Rent Laws of 1920 hold an answer? \*\*\*\*\* Drones and Crime: Djinni out of the bottle? \*\*\*\*\* Edgewater Fire: Christie is all over it in a not-so-subtle “my _friends_ get this; Ft Lee gets _That_!” show of partisan governing style. Q: Is This what a Christie Presidency would offer to US States? \*\*\*\*\* Snowden: Year-Old Intrusive Surveillance Laws Didn’t Stop Paris Attacks. Pols use fear to push through laws 9-11 Style in Europe. \*Editorial Opinion Piece “Don’t You People EVER LEARN???” * * * > [@Claverhouse](#): > > No doubt deliberate. By promoting trivia and persuading the populace utterly unimportant happenings have meaning, it lowers their political awareness and calms them into enjoying the status quo. > Dumbing Down 101. So painful to hear… But So True…! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/23 "2015-01-23T13:39:12Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > Today’s best TV journalists (Jon Stewart, John Oliver) are comedians and supposedly actual TV news is a joke. I saw a bumper sticker the other day: > [@](#): > > I get my humor from Fox news. > I get my news from Comedy Channel. Smartest thing I’ve read on a car in years. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/24 "2015-01-23T13:46:47Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > \*\*\*\*\* Asteroid 2004 BL86: High and to the Outside Better than low and inside. I think the Yemen situation was the most significant, followed by the death of the monarch of a pretty significant country. I agree that it was nuts to lead with the football story. Of course the Patriots cheat- it’s what they do. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/25 "2015-01-23T13:55:33Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Last time I tuned into a news program and watched it in full, Peter Jennings was alive. > > It used to be a person or a few news people telling you about a current event and giving you the latest info concerning the event. Now it seems that opinions are news. An opinion is never fucking news, especially if you didn’t research said opinion before the mic went on. It’s no longer news, it’s a list of buzzwords that strike your ear in a pleasing manner and keep you tuning in and paying the cable bill. > > I don’t care what O’Reilly or Anderson THINK about a story, I want to hear the story, period. Maybe it started with cable. I don’t remember a show called Dan Rather or Peter Jennings. It was called World News with someone who GIVES the news. This, times a million trillion billion. I tend to watch BBC News and listen to NPR for real news beyond celebrities, cute animals, kids with severe illnesses, and trends-as-news. I understand local Boston news spending time every newscast on “deflate-gate” (ugh), but national news leading with it? Are you fucking kidding? Real news isn’t quite dead in the US, but it’s on life support. Makes me sad. It also makes me glad that I didn’t go into journalism. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/26 "2015-01-23T14:14:11Z")
I was hanging on to the last shred of hope that Brian Williams was a real newsman and had the gravitas to stand up to at least the worst of what’s happening to journalism today. The last of my illusions were destroyed last night when Nightly News lead with the football non-story. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/27 "2015-01-23T16:35:33Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > What has happened journalism? Nothing. That’s what people forget. Journalism has _always_ been this way. In 1921, William Randolph Hearst famously boasted that the Fatty Arbuckle trial “sold more newspapers than any event since the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.” Let that sink in. Over 90 years ago the head of the largest media empire in the United States was equating a Hollywood murder trial with the event that a few short years earlier may very well have precipitated the entry of the United States into the largest war the planet had seen up until that time. And he was happy about it. Profit based “journalism” isn’t exactly new. Shoot, even Joseph Pulitzer (of "Pulitzer Prize) fame wasn’t immune to it. This is how [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Pulitzer#New_York_World) describes his purchase of the _New York World_. [quote=WikipediaIn 1883, Pulitzer, by now a wealthy man, purchased the New York World from Jay Gould for $346,000. The newspaper had been losing $40,000 a year. **To raise circulation, Pulitzer emphasized human-interest stories, scandal, and sensationalism.** [/quote] Sounds familiar, don’t it? People without a proper sense of history will always cry “alas, what has happened to X?”. They pine for an imaginary past that never actually happened and they lose perspective because what is happening _now_ is just more immediate to them. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/28 "2015-01-23T17:06:51Z")
Perhaps. That still doesn’t make it okay to watch news on television. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/29 "2015-01-23T17:26:16Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > The fire, while huge, thankfully did not result in any deaths or serious injuries. I feel for those displaced, but it’s essentially a local story. Except that it’s now suspected to be a product of domestic terrorism. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/30 "2015-01-23T17:38:42Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Except that it’s now suspected to be a product of domestic terrorism. Where did you read that? All the news sites are reporting the fire was [accidentally caused by plumbers.](http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2015/01/christie_speaks_about_edgewater_fire.html) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/31 "2015-01-23T17:44:21Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Where did you read that? All the news sites are reporting the fire was [accidentally caused by plumbers.](http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2015/01/christie_speaks_about_edgewater_fire.html) That’s just what they _want_ you to think… Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/32 "2015-01-23T18:12:45Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > King Abdullah was 90 which is older than the age the average person dies at. Hardly a shocking tragedy at 90. That’s the point, exactly. Too many people think that the story is about King Abdullah’s death. That is only the surface story. The real reporting should have been around Crown Prince Salman, his views and likely policy direction. How likely is he to continue the SA market share ploy that has lowered oil prices dramatically? The US is sending the VP to the funeral while other countries are sending heads of state - how does that affect the world view of the US? Wait, Salman is 79 years old, who is waiting in the wings? What are the new Crown Prince’s views? One of the most powerful and unstable regions of the world just lost a major leader. There are many more angles than “he was old”. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/33 "2015-01-23T18:22:08Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > That’s the point, exactly. Too many people think that the story is about King Abdullah’s death. That is only the surface story. The real reporting should have been around Crown Prince Salman, his views and likely policy direction. How likely is he to continue the SA market share ploy that has lowered oil prices dramatically? The US is sending the VP to the funeral while other countries are sending heads of state - how does that affect the world view of the US? Wait, Salman is 79 years old, who is waiting in the wings? What are the new Crown Prince’s views? > > One of the most powerful and unstable regions of the world just lost a major leader. There are many more angles than “he was old”. Interesting that all these angles were covered on NPR’s BBC News broadcast this morning. And not once did they mention under-inflated footballs. So real news IS possible. But less and less by mainstream American media. And as for the theory, “it has always been thus”, I find it hard to imagine that Cronkite or Murrow or Jennings would have led with footballgate. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/34 "2015-01-23T18:25:45Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Where did you read that? All the news sites are reporting the fire was [accidentally caused by plumbers.](http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2015/01/christie_speaks_about_edgewater_fire.html) I caught some news tease during the Blazers game last night, which I assumed was referring to the Jersey fire. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/35 "2015-01-23T18:35:01Z")
I also recently switched to BBC from CNN for all the reasons listed above. The second day I opened the page, one of the secondary stories was “Do You Fart More in Airplanes?” Sigh. But yeah, overall, news coverage is much more comprehensive than anything over here. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/36 "2015-01-23T18:36:38Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > Nothing. That’s what people forget. Journalism has _always_ been this way. In 1921, William Randolph Hearst famously boasted that the Fatty Arbuckle trial “sold more newspapers than any event since the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.” Let that sink in. Over 90 years ago the head of the largest media empire in the United States was equating a Hollywood murder trial with the event that a few short years earlier may very well have precipitated the entry of the United States into the largest war the planet had seen up until that time. And he was happy about it. Profit based “journalism” isn’t exactly new. > > Shoot, even Joseph Pulitzer (of "Pulitzer Prize) fame wasn’t immune to it. This is how [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Pulitzer#New_York_World) describes his purchase of the _New York World_. Sounds familiar, don’t it? > > People without a proper sense of history will always cry “alas, what has happened to X?”. They pine for an imaginary past that never actually happened and they lose perspective because what is happening _now_ is just more immediate to them. There’s a lot of truth to that, although Hearst was a publisher, not a broadcast magnate, and his paper was the rag of the era. But I’m old enough to remember when the national televised news was an hour long, and anchors refused to avoid stories that would irritate powerful people, i.e., the Joe McCarthy expose. I also take exception to your last paragraph. You don’t know me and you don’t know what my knowledge/experience base is. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/37 "2015-01-23T19:23:33Z")
Watch the 1976 movie [Network.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) Then tell there is no such thing as predicting the future. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/38 "2015-01-23T19:27:46Z")
All of the mainstream media are owned by large corporations, part of the corporate oligarchy. Which is why you’ll rarely see stories which challenge the interests of the corporate oligarchy, and when you DO see them they will be slanted to reflect the best interests of the corporate oligarchy. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/39 "2015-01-23T19:36:59Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > All of the mainstream media are owned by large corporations, part of the corporate oligarchy. Which is why you’ll rarely see stories which challenge the interests of the corporate oligarchy, and when you DO see them they will be slanted to reflect the best interests of the corporate oligarchy. I find your lack of faith in the corporate oligarchy deeply disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/40 "2015-01-23T20:24:23Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Nowadays I swear most reporters never get out of their cubicles. They just sit there and pull stories off the internet. I’m pretty sure that this is exactly what happens. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a news story online, and then the next day the TV news reports the same story, often with very similar wording. It’s really obvious that they’re just reading story off [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) or [FoxNews.com](http://FoxNews.com) or wherever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642.md?page=3)