Pixelated Semantics

A schizotypical inventory

Most News is Not

A distinction now has to be made clearly in the Media between those who report and those who actually investigate. Highlighted by US Federal investigators recently examining television segments in which the Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists to extol the benefits of a new Medicare law, according to the New York Times, 14 March.

The paper reports that;

"The videos are intended for use in local television news programs. Several include pictures of President Bush receiving a standing ovation from a crowd cheering as he signed the Medicare law on Dec. 8... The materials were produced by the Department of Health and Human Services, which called them video news releases, but [ that ] source is not identified... But the production company, Home Front Communications, said it had hired [ people ] to read a script prepared by the government."

The government also disseminated scripts for use by news anchors as readymade "story packages."

There seems to be little if any effort being made in regards to journalism's long-established principle of independently verifying claims by corporations and governments. It is unsurprising to find that the traditional 'big' news media are in decline, as Reuters reported the next day.

That agency's news feed reported that "most U.S. news media are experiencing a steady decline in their audiences and are significantly cutting their investment in staff and resources." A study on the state of the U.S. news media by the Project for Excellence in Journalism found only ethnic, alternative and online media were "flourishing". [ Even this humble web log has presented stories ahead of the Australian media in several instances. See the Archives.]

"Trust in journalism has been declining for a generation" the project director asserted. In view of the fact that only 5 percent of stories on cable news contained new information, that there is less fact checking and less policing of journalistic standards, and that governments can so easily "plant" stories such as the Medicare "packages" detailed above, it is unsurprising that media credibility is eroding with the general public.

[ Acknowledgement to Cryptogon for highlighting the PEJ Study. ]

Item posted by AutoEditor at 9:54 am ::