For a long, long time now, I have asserted that the traditional mass media are not the professional organizations they once were. Instead, the traditional print and broadcast mass media would rather sensationalize people and trivialize issues, as I have written before. And, as I have also previously stated, television news broadcasts go on and on and on about what they they will be telling us if we just stay tuned into their station --- and, then, when they finally report on whatever it was they said they would report on, there is nothing any more of substance than that which was contained within their ad infinitum lead-in teasers.
Another big problem with those traditional mass broadcast news media is that in their rush to be the first to inform, in their scurry to get the scoop, in their clamoring desire to boost audience, they neglect to get the facts before "informing" the public. That all leads to an extremely large volume of misinformation being spread to the masses with lightning speed giving rise to the fastest moving source of rumors that have ever existed on Planet Earth.
One of the latest most blatant examples of irresponsible, rumor-mongering journalism involves yet another tragedy of mass killings; this time involving young elementary school children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
Chris "CW" Martin has written an excellent piece that exemplifies some of that which causes me concern and alarm. Please, please click on over to read:
Tilting at Windmills: The bigger issue here...
To me, the Mass Media is Trash Media.
I have now decided to rename The News to The Rumor Mill.
It does seem to be more fitting of their stature nowadays.
2 comments:
There's little doubt that there's an elephant in the room where the 24-hour media a day is concerned.
Once upon a time news came on every half hour on radio, twice a day on TV and once or twice a day in the newspaper (if you were lucky enough to grab a 'late edition'). These days new broadcasts are between their twenty-four hours news networks (and websites) on one side, and the hard place of reduced staffing in traditional media forced upon them from their own profitability.
Complicating the issue is that in a free society, we cannot create a monitor for a free press, and the media refuses to monitor itself. Adding to the problem is the media's refusal to admit fallibility when they get wrong in the rush to press, and their confusion of fact and editorializing in their rush to judgment.
There's no simple answer here, but we one must be worked for as we attempt to define ourselves as a society in this instant communication age.
Well done, thanks for the props.
Post a Comment