This must be a parody, I thought. And it is. But seriously, the news media have become very afraid of lawsuits lately. So that alone is putting a damper on reporting in usually reliable media sources. I know that the trend towards consolidation and closing of regional papers is hurting journalism. There is also the effect of conservative, anti-labor views pushed by right-wing media outlets. Truth-speaking has a cost and it is especially high now in the current environment. Nevertheless, the fourth estate is important because its job is to show us how government is spending our tax money, e.g. DoD paying contractors $10,000 per toilet seat... or more recent examples of tax dollars being used for things we don't want.
yes - it is satire - but like the best of all satire, there is so much truth embedded in it that it is almost painful to read. When I found it, I felt overwhelmed by the wish that it was true: that an executive had the courage to speak up, not to take down his company or to change the world, but just to inform people how things run. A show that speaks this plainly is Shrinking on Apple TV - if you like this kind of extremely direct truth, you may like that show.
Once upon a time to report something as news, you had to have verified sources. In our haste to get the "news" 1st, Verified sources are apparently no longer required, as long as the bar of libel or slander are not met. Voila!, and we have the 24 hour "news" and infotainment cycle.
I long for the return to the days when news was relevant, and believable. My mornings reading the newsotainmnent on the computer are not nearly as satisfying as the feel of a real paper and a cup of coffee used to be. I knew in the early days of shock journalism, the Geraldos and the Jerry Springers were when we sold our rights to reality and traded it for cheap horror, that we were in for a wild ride. When we look back at what we have lost in integrity, at least we can look at our lives compared to others and congratulate ourselves on not being nearly as bad as all that right? Right? Sigh...
This must be a parody, I thought. And it is. But seriously, the news media have become very afraid of lawsuits lately. So that alone is putting a damper on reporting in usually reliable media sources. I know that the trend towards consolidation and closing of regional papers is hurting journalism. There is also the effect of conservative, anti-labor views pushed by right-wing media outlets. Truth-speaking has a cost and it is especially high now in the current environment. Nevertheless, the fourth estate is important because its job is to show us how government is spending our tax money, e.g. DoD paying contractors $10,000 per toilet seat... or more recent examples of tax dollars being used for things we don't want.
yes - it is satire - but like the best of all satire, there is so much truth embedded in it that it is almost painful to read. When I found it, I felt overwhelmed by the wish that it was true: that an executive had the courage to speak up, not to take down his company or to change the world, but just to inform people how things run. A show that speaks this plainly is Shrinking on Apple TV - if you like this kind of extremely direct truth, you may like that show.
Once upon a time to report something as news, you had to have verified sources. In our haste to get the "news" 1st, Verified sources are apparently no longer required, as long as the bar of libel or slander are not met. Voila!, and we have the 24 hour "news" and infotainment cycle.
I long for the return to the days when news was relevant, and believable. My mornings reading the newsotainmnent on the computer are not nearly as satisfying as the feel of a real paper and a cup of coffee used to be. I knew in the early days of shock journalism, the Geraldos and the Jerry Springers were when we sold our rights to reality and traded it for cheap horror, that we were in for a wild ride. When we look back at what we have lost in integrity, at least we can look at our lives compared to others and congratulate ourselves on not being nearly as bad as all that right? Right? Sigh...