# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/41 "2015-01-23T20:46:01Z")
In the movie “Broadcast News”, from 1987, Jane Craig is making a speech about the decline of journalism. She mentions something about “the profound impact of ‘Entertainment Tonight’.” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/42 "2015-01-23T21:12:24Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > Today’s best TV journalists (Jon Stewart, John Oliver) are comedians and supposedly actual TV news is a joke. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > I saw a bumper sticker the other day: > > Smartest thing I’ve read on a car in years. These guys are journalists in the same way that Entertainment Tonight anchors are journalists. They gather the news from other sources and make fun of it. They aren’t investigating anything, they aren’t breaking news, they aren’t doing journalism in any sense. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/43 "2015-01-23T21:33:03Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > These guys are journalists in the same way that Entertainment Tonight anchors are journalists. > > They gather the news from other sources and make fun of it. They aren’t investigating anything, they aren’t breaking news, they aren’t doing journalism in any sense. Wile this is true, they seem to have a better understanding of both which stories are more important, and what the implications those stories may have for the future. And in a large sense, mainstream news now competes with them, and it becomes more entertainment and less news. So it’s not too far off to say the CBS, NBC, etc. news have become poor quality copies of The Daily Show. ---
**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, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/44 "2015-01-23T21:55:43Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Wile this is true, they seem to have a better understanding of both which stories are more important, and what the implications those stories may have for the future. > > And in a large sense, mainstream news now competes with them, and it becomes more entertainment and less news. So it’s not too far off to say the CBS, NBC, etc. news have become poor quality copies of The Daily Show. For one example, a couple of years ago The Daily Show and The Stephen Colbert show combined to do a brilliant expose of how easy it is for politicians to legally convert donations from PACs and Super PACS to their own personal funds in a way that was legally untraceable. It was hilarious, biting satire and also EXTREMELY informative, in a way that mainstream media almost never are. [Here’s the relevant data](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colbert_Super_PAC#Dissolution_of_the_Super_PAC), looks like it was mainly a Stephen Colbert project, but damn, it was brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/45 "2015-01-23T22:21:03Z")
Profit was always a factor, but like much else in America the media has largely become _one-dimensionally obsessed_ with profit, with nothing else even a consideration. If pushing filler or lies makes them more money they’ll do it and nothing else, because they don’t have any pride in their work, no concern for their country, no concern for the truth or the future or their reputation or _anything else whatsoever_ except profit. Except for Fox which as a propaganda machine has pushing right wing extremism as a motive instead, which is hardly an improvement. > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Nowadays I swear most reporters never get out of their cubicles. They just sit there and pull stories off the internet. > > The days of the reporters sneaking around city hall and back alleys looking for a scoop are long gone. It’s my understanding that they usually copy each other, or just copy the press release of the company/government/other organization involved in the story. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/46 "2015-01-23T22:30:51Z")
Thomas Jefferson on newspapers: > [@](#): > > To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted, so as to be most useful, I should answer, “by restraining it to true facts & sound principles only.” Yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits, than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. . . . I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false. Sounds familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/47 "2015-01-24T02:30:05Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Wile this is true, they seem to have a better understanding of both which stories are more important, and what the implications those stories may have for the future. > > And in a large sense, mainstream news now competes with them, and it becomes more entertainment and less news. So it’s not too far off to say the CBS, NBC, etc. news have become poor quality copies of The Daily Show. > [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > For one example, a couple of years ago The Daily Show and The Stephen Colbert show combined to do a brilliant expose of how easy it is for politicians to legally convert donations from PACs and Super PACS to their own personal funds in a way that was legally untraceable. It was hilarious, biting satire and also EXTREMELY informative, in a way that mainstream media almost never are. > > [Here’s the relevant data](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colbert_Super_PAC#Dissolution_of_the_Super_PAC), looks like it was mainly a Stephen Colbert project, but damn, it was brilliant. I agree with both of these. All of the Comedy news shows do what comedy basically does, force us to think of issues in a new way or at least just make us think. It just bugs me when people call it news because it’s not. It’s certainly something…but news it ain’t ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/48 "2015-01-24T04:29:41Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Tonight’s NBC news really astonished me. In today’s news: King Abdullah died, a gigantic fire in New Jersey, Yemen’s government runs for the hills, and there’s an oil spill in the Yellowstone River. But NBC’s lead story is about football. Football? Really? Are your ratings so shitty that you have to pander to the least common denominator? Are attention spans so tiny that an in-depth story is no longer possible? National TV coverage is to actual news as a pamphlet is to a book. Take 3 networks with all the advertising dollars and divide that into a bazillion news sources. There’s no money for investigative reporting. It died years ago. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/49 "2015-01-24T08:03:06Z")
“If we were to do the Second Coming of Christ in color for a full hour, there would be a considerable number of stations which would decline to carry it on the grounds that a Western or a quiz show would be more profitable.” -Edward R. Murrow ---
**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 24, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/50 "2015-01-24T15:39:57Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > “If we were to do the Second Coming of Christ in color for a full hour, there would be a considerable number of stations which would decline to carry it on the grounds that a Western or a quiz show would be more profitable.” > > -Edward R. Murrow Sure, but Edward would lead with the Jesus story. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/51 "2015-01-24T16:01:41Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > See _Nightcrawler_ for details. Great movie. > > * * * > > And, on another semi-hijack, about a week ago on the BBC’s _World at One_ radio / podcast show, there was a story about a mom who had been invoiced the cost of a ski trip her son did not attend. The invoice had come from another mom who said she was out of pocket because of the no-show. > Even as a “In lighter news…” it doesn’t work. So surreal to hear a normally high-quality news and discussion show mention a _Judge Judy_ story. As a matter of interest that piece of “news” was all over the daytime broadcasts here in the UK. By the evening it was pushed off even the ‘and also’ at the end. That said I do fear that our news broadcasts are heading the same way. ---
**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 24, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/52 "2015-01-24T17:43:02Z")
I think that the TV version of national/international news has just become a habit after so many years. I get most of the news from online sources, so could likely just quit watching and not miss it a bit. Last night had more inanity about football, an item about the Portland Airport carpet being removed (WTF?), and the demise of the Skymall Magazine. To quote Ralphie’s father “That’s real _news_, not that politics crap!” ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/53 "2015-01-24T17:57:24Z")
Most news reporting today is dumbed down shit. On my extremely pathetic local newspaper’s online site, it’s challenging to find a story without at least one typo. Amusingly enough, a [story](http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/01/genesee_county_literacy_coalit_3.html#incart_river) from yesterday about the Genesee County Literacy Coalition started out with this clunker of a sentence: > [@](#): > > The Genesee County Literacy Coalition is looking for people who can giving their time to help adults in the community improve their literacy skills. ---
**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 24, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/54 "2015-01-24T19:43:06Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Most news reporting today is dumbed down shit. > > On my extremely pathetic local newspaper’s online site, it’s challenging to find a story without at least one typo. Amusingly enough, a [story](http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/01/genesee_county_literacy_coalit_3.html#incart_river) from yesterday about the Genesee County Literacy Coalition started out with this clunker of a sentence: In our tour of the Oregonian offices, they told us that reporters send in stories via iPhone. What I gathered from what we were told, fact checking is slim or even bypassed, as editors are under pressure to get the story published. I guess they figure retractions are just as good as fact checking. While I expect this kind of shoddy reporting from Fox, it’s discouraging to find it in pubs that have won Pulitzers. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/55 "2015-01-24T20:30:32Z")
I’m amazed that the lead in to Kathie Lee and Hoda mentions they are being brought to us by NBC news. Their show consists of them drinking wine, talking about cleaning your closet, and doing makeovers on random people. The hour before that is three or four people talking over each other while showing YouTube videos and stories from reddit. That is what the Today Show has turned into. And yes, I remember J Fred Muggs, but they still had actual news. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/56 "2015-01-24T22:03:08Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > In our tour of the Oregonian offices, they told us that reporters send in stories via iPhone. What I gathered from what we were told, fact checking is slim or even bypassed, as editors are under pressure to get the story published. I guess they figure retractions are just as good as fact checking. While I expect this kind of shoddy reporting from Fox, it’s discouraging to find it in pubs that have won Pulitzers. I believe it. On several occasions, the Flint Gerbil has posted stories on the same event or crime, by two different reporters - and with a differing set of facts. :rolleyes: I did once email the editor/ “director of news content” Marjory Raymer, pointing out that two stories on the same event had been posted on the same day - but with wildly different facts. I got a “thanks for bringing that to our attention” email in response, but both stories stayed up unchanged. So clearly my local news can’t be trusted to report facts correctly, and they don’t even care. I also miss actual news, instead of the infotainment crap I see presented on the major networks. ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/57 "2015-01-24T22:45:40Z")
I sometimes wonder what news to even trust for a completely unbiased viewpoint. I just take in enough to catch the jist of it and move on cause news is mostly depressing or upsetting anyway. ---
**Author:** ![vomit\_comet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/73ab20/32.png) [@vomit\_comet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vomit_comet)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/58 "2015-01-25T07:50:14Z")
I sometimes can tolerate Alex Jones but he’s quite difficult to listen to in the cubicle next to your boss… Sometimes he just sounds like a raving lunatic but while I ‘get’ what he’s saying most of the time, other times I can’t help but think he’s trying to incite something; for all I know, he may be right and should be trying to incite something. I keep an open mind and believe almost nothing that I hear and maybe about 50% of what I see. that sounds contradictory. 😮 I heard recently that Alex is retiring, I see that David has been doing the show quite often recently so maybe David is taking over as lead host??? Maybe once a week or two weeks or a month I’ll hook up the antenna to the TV dongle and watch the news to catch up but other than that I can’t be bothered with what the networks are spewing out as news. _political_ Look up “[Alberta Premiere Redford](http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://cponline.thecanadianpress.com/graphics/2014/redford-timeline/graphics/mar3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://globalnews.ca/news/1219291/timeline-a-look-at-recent-troubles-that-prompted-alberta-premier-alison-redford-to-resign/&h=228&w=300&tbnid=rtefQdslgPRrRM:&zoom=1&docid=BIgoNjpLoui1HM&ei=56DEVNvRA5GuyATio4KgCw&tbm=isch&ved=0CFUQMygrMCs)” Doesn’t she look like a female “boy from Brazil” ---
**Author:** ![vomit\_comet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/73ab20/32.png) [@vomit\_comet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vomit_comet)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/59 "2015-01-25T08:00:14Z")
Missed the edit window… All she needs is a [moustache and a haircut](https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsusanonthesoapbox.com%2F2014%2F01%2F12%2Fminister-bhullars-revelation-741-children-die-in-government-care%2F&ei=M6LEVMudBMGuyASBv4HwBQ&bvm=bv.84349003,d.aWw&psig=AFQjCNES8WsMLoGvG5h3JBsZ7Qk8gpme4A&ust=1422258791525329). ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642/60 "2015-01-25T15:59:56Z")
The fact that TV “news” is not news is not news. Whatsamatter? Slow post day? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-journalism/710642.md?page=2)