American journalism--how to fix it?

[Guynemer]

A running theme in the discussion here and elsewhere on the Interwebs regarding the Stewart-Cramer brouhaha is the impotence of American journalism: "Why can this sort of thing only happen on Comedy Central," etc.

Of course, in some respects, that's not entirely true--witness the Couric-Palin trainwreck last fall. However, in general, the point holds.

The problem, as I see it, is this: the U.S. news media, by virtue of being a free press, is also a profit-making business. They have to make profits, keep the share price up, or disappear. Thus, news takes a back seat to ratings or circulation numbers and ad rates.

However, the obvious other alternative--a public, government-run news media--is a complete non-starter, both constitutionally and, for most of us Americans, emotionally.


So how do we get the news media to start doing actual journalism again? To dig for stories, to verify government and business claims instead of just reporting them as fact? To become the adversarial press they should be, instead of the sycophants they are? The way our system currently operates, the only way for that to happen is for such reporting to become more profitable than what they do now--for the American public to demand it.

How do we convince the American public at-large, not exactly known for their rigourous intellectualism, to recognize the important of true journalism?

[Kuciwalker]

So how do we get the news media to start doing actual journalism again? To dig for stories, to verify government and business claims instead of just reporting them as fact?

I reject the premise.

[Nostromo]

Pray

[Guynemer]

I reject the premise.

Where was the news media in the run up to te Iraq War? Where were the investigations into the Admin's claims regarding WMDs? Where were the investigations into the CEO's claims regarding their companies on CNBC?

[Zero]

topless female journalists.

[Kuciwalker]

Where was the news media in the run up to te Iraq War? Where were the investigations into the Admin's claims regarding WMDs? Where were the investigations into the CEO's claims regarding their companies on CNBC?

Was the news media any more critical in the run up to the Vietnam War? Neither of us are old enough, AFAIK, to actually remember whether the media was better in the past. Even the people who are have obvious cognitive biases.

[chequita guevara]

Regretfully I must agree with Kuci. American journalism has pretty much always been teh sux0rs, with brief moments when the **** got so bad even they couldn't buy the bs anymore, and they had teh appearance of "speaking truth to power" (as if the powerful didn't know teh truth all along).

[Koyaanisqatsi]

So how do we get the news media to start doing actual journalism again? To dig for stories, to verify government and business claims instead of just reporting them as fact?

Fixed for Kuci.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

American news is, for the most part, just responding to market forces (which is why news insulated from market forces -- PBS, NPR, network news before the 1980s -- is/was generally somewhat better than the rest). You want better news, you'll need a better market for news -- i.e., better Americans. Not that they're all bad, but in an age of media market fragmentation, the few Americans who want to consume responsible media already do so, and media exists to cater to those niches; unfortunately, since they are niches, they scarcely have any impact on the national conversation, which is dominated by news outlets ginning up "news" that will attract the same audience that enjoys "American Idol" and "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader."

[Imran Siddiqui]

obvious other alternative--a public, government-run news media--is a complete non-starter

Just watch PBS and pretend nothing else exists .

[Darius871]

American news is, for the most part, just responding to market forces (which is why news insulated from market forces -- PBS, NPR, network news before the 1980s -- is/was generally somewhat better than the rest). You want better news, you'll need a better market for news -- i.e., better Americans.

QFMFT; I can't imagine why that simple fact seems so hard to grasp in the other thread. Reminds me of Carlin's spiel along the lines of "no no no, I think something else stinks around here...the public."

[DaShi]

Unfortunately, some in the other thread have been turning it into, "Jon Stewart was wrong for exposing this." I think the more the public sees of this kind of report, the more they can respond to it. However, even if it comes in sporadic episodes of a comedy, that's better than nothing. Certainly better than defending the perpetrators of bad reporting by arguing that the public is stupid.

[GePap]

Yeah, lets give up on the masses! They are encouragible morons and can never be anything better!...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I've watched a lot of Stewart, and I've watched a fair bit of Cramer. Frankly, how anyone, with a straight face, could suggest that Stewart is an entertainer and Cramer isn't is beyond me.

[GePap]

I've watched a lot of Stewart, and I've watched a fair bit of Cramer. Frankly, how anyone, with a straight face, could suggest that Stewart is an entertainer and Cramer isn't is beyond me.

Of course Cramer entertains - but he also advices people on how to spend their money. The point of Cramer's show is "hey look, this guy knows how the markets work, made lots of money on Wall Street- so watch his show, laugh, but then also learn how to make good investements that will make you money!" Those are NOT equal positions.

At best, one can claim that Stewarts is now also a critic, beyond being an entertainer.