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My rant on the the lack of integrity in journalism

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  • My rant on the the lack of integrity in journalism

    The below rant went in my weblog today. I'm slightly sick today, so I managed to skive school the legal way and I relaxed and started reading Reader's Digests:

    ...But anyway, the rant of the day. SInce I'm more or less confined to 250 square feet today, I decided to dig through our chronologically placed Reader's Digest collection. They start in 1996 (even though my grandparents have issues from the 60s and 70s) and continue to May 2005. And holy shit.

    It used to be a quality magazine in 1996, with interesting and mentally challenging articles. They took on political, social, and economic debates. There was a side-by-side article: "Why you should vote Democrat" and on the facing page, "Why you should vote Republican" (Nov. 1998.). And in 2001, they have the "Love Lab", which is a monthly feature which usually features old people who don't climax properly. What the hell's happened to good, journalism? Articles pointing out the dangers of being overcharged by mechanics "Avoid these Car-repair rip-offs" (Dec 1996.) have been replaced by "J-Lo: Mistakes that made her grow" (Aug 2003). No one in the media, whether its published, electronic, or any other means, really cares about integrity or journalistic morality. They just want their money.

    The back cover of every Reader's Digest used to have works of art. In Nov 1998, it was a Jackson Pollock. In Dec 1996, it was "Choir of Angels" by an unknown German artist. In 2003, it was this stupid, absurdly simple drawing of this kid on a a barbeque with a dog looking at the cooking meat. "Our America", the series of "art" is called. Following 9-11, the back page had pictures of people who made changes in their community-which I can condone. But these "Our America" things are stupid. And that's just one magazine. Take TV:

    We have Shepard Smith shoveling his load of Bullshit while on the other channels, we have Stephen Stephanopolous shoving his garbage at the public. And during their shows (yes, shows), half the time is with advertising and 15 minutes is for special graphics announcing the G-Block or world news or whatever. So in that 15 minutes of real news, 10 is opinionated bullshit. Like "Filipinos burn American flag in front of embassy". Who gives a flying shit about something that happens every day? I'm sorely disappointed in the media as a whole.

    The only (and again- ONLY) source of news that I seem to be able to trust these days with full confidence is the BBC. They may post their news articles 5 minutes after Fox or MSNBC or CNN, but I know that the facts have been checked and everything's accurate. And if they were wrong, they'll cop up to it instead of a disclaimer on the bottom.

    The media is slowly deteriorating for the Dollar, and this should be a great concern for everyone who's under 20 years of age right now. What the hell are we supposed to do when we're 50? Stop trusting CNN because they're probably grossly exaggerating things? Will "California burned to ground by raging fires" actually mean someone's house got burned down in a gang fight in East Palo Alto? Are we supposed to insinuate what they don't tell us because it may make them poorer? Something needs to be done, but for once, I can't even think of a solution. The governemnt should DEFINITELY keep its nose out of this. But some entity needs to get gung-ho to save good journalism before it goes the way of the dodo.

  • #2
    They serve up what people want to hear. that's all I can say man. Hell, In like '99 and '00 I used to watch the news, not now, who gives a f' about J-Lo? And that's national news shows, not like E! or anything.

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    • #3
      Its really sad that the most accurate american journalism comes from John Stuart.


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      • #4
        Originally posted by E-Diddy!
        Its really sad that the most accurate american journalism comes from John Stuart.
        Eh, that's a parody of the "news" which is a parody anyway. So it's worth just as much as the primetime news shows, but it's worth watching for the laughs.

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