We’re Paying The Price For
The Death Of Journalism
Townhall,
by
Derek Hunter
Original Article
Posted By: MissMolly,
3/15/2020 5:12:23 AM
That journalism is dead has been a punchline for so long that we’ve forgotten how that fact has real world consequences. We’re now paying the price for the failure of that profession to hold itself to any semblance of standards. As worry and straight-up panic sweep large swaths of the country, causing irrational toilet paper hoarding and runs on canned goods, there is no outlet and no journalist worthy of trust when it comes to conveying truthful information to the public or to hold anyone in power accountable.
Eight years of sycophantic, throne sniffing coverage under President Barack Obama gave way to four years of nitpicking, hostility, and conspiracy theories.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
JL80863 3/15/2020 5:43:57 AM (No. 346739)
Well Mr. Hunter, I think you have missed your own point. So many writers are quick to condemn a rather generalized public response as "irrational" or as "hoarding". Really? I think much of the public has recognized that something fundamental has changed. Do you really believe that we can expect to drop by our local super market and find every item we may have forgotten on our last shopping trip? Most practical shoppers understand the effect of supply chain issues despite the normal abundance of household basics. How do you ensure that you will not run out of what you consider to be an essential product? How is it that every tongue clicking writer has an unending supply of toilet tissue and thus is able to mock the rest of us mere mortals? Rational mortals know the game has changed. At least for the time being, the days of "I'll pick some of that up next week" are over. Wholesalers may have ample stocks of a particular product but if the delivery driver or the stock clerk isn't available to do their normal jobs perhaps the product isn't going to be on the shelves. Real people living in the real world understand that. Wake up.
12 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
judy 3/15/2020 5:45:24 AM (No. 346740)
It's not dead.... it's one sided. It's what they don't report that makes them obscene. Selective reporting is so predictable.
23 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
MSUDoc 3/15/2020 6:56:19 AM (No. 346759)
FTA:” and if they love him, there is nothing that will be challenged on Fox.”
Ummmm....Fox is quickly becoming as bad as the rest of them.
12 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 3/15/2020 7:11:51 AM (No. 346763)
I think the author has a good point.
Because the story is being hyped, people are panicking. The shortages are because people are overbuying. Talk to the store management and they will tell you that MOST things are coming in EVERY DAY but being bought out by nervous people who saw the shelves empty the day before. Most of the supply chain is carefully balanced to avoid carrying costly excess inventory. When you get a panic driven surge, the chain takes a while to rebalance. If we had responsible news organizations, for every picture of an empty shelf they should have 5 supply chain interviews that say there is product available and on the way. Stores should limit purchases of items to discourage hoarding. Even rational people are buying extra to avoid shortage inconveniences.
In another area, the problems we are having with our bureaucracy is partly due to media failure. The government is doing some amazingly stupid things. The media NEVER challenges them or erratically challenges them depending on party. The bureaucracy or party is never corrected. Multiple acts that are not legal or smart but never challenged add up to an attitude of "We can do whatever we want".
The media itself has taken that attitude as well but they are a product. Their failure has caused people to reject them. It's not quite as direct because media lives through ad buys but eventually the advertisers have realized that people are not viewing their ads because people aren't watching.
8 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Bur Oak 3/15/2020 8:31:30 AM (No. 346826)
Journalism has been dead for decades. What has happened recently is that the media has become so biased and politically correct that the sheeple now see the mainstream media for what it is. This unveiling is a good thing.
14 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Captleemo 3/15/2020 8:45:01 AM (No. 346841)
Fox news has certainly declined the last few years to the point its getting hard to watch. I go to OANN much more frequently now and especially like Liz Wheeler's show on at 8:pm CST. I used to go to the Drudge Report online but have noticed an UN journalistic turn to the left so I have written them off. I like Luicianne and now instead of Drudge the Citizen Free Press. CNN, MSNBC, CBS etc. seem like nothing more than cheerleaders for the anti Trump crowd.
8 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
maryann4629 3/15/2020 8:45:52 AM (No. 346845)
Journalism died in 2008 when we had a presidential candidate who had a shady real estate deal with a mob associate (I'd love to know the "quo" for that "quid") and our so-called journalists couldn't be bothered to investigate because they were too busy digging through Alaskan garbage dumpsters to find out who Trigg Palin's mother is.
9 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
doctorfixit 3/15/2020 8:50:25 AM (No. 346850)
Humans survived for a long time without journalism. There are better, more efficient, honest ways of getting the facts now. Good riddance to journalism. It's pure propaganda
8 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
LesUNo 3/15/2020 8:51:57 AM (No. 346854)
I am in full agreement with this well written article. Journalism has been dead for some time. I do not subscribe to any newspapers and have essentially turned off the television. The anchors have become more “celebrity” than true journalists and it has gone to their heads. They are boring and predictable and play to their core viewing audience. The author is dead on regarding the same 12 pundits on FOX. When was the last time we heard an original thought or even thoughtful analysis?
7 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Strike3 3/15/2020 9:10:41 AM (No. 346880)
I think journalism is paying the price for the death of journalism. Unlike Jeffrey Epstein's demise this was a suicide and it took them a long time to die but they finally reached room temperature. The author, along with thousands of other handwringers, states that coronavirus is serious but compared to other causes, the numbers do not back that statement up. In most states, the number of deaths is 1 or 2. 1 or 2 people will die falling down the steps this morning or crashing their cars but nobody is panicking over that. The best way to avoid catching the virus is to stay at home for days at a time but the criticism is flying over those who stocked up on stay-at-home supplies - yes, toilet paper. The whining and complaining shows our makeup as a society, not those who thought to buy a few weeks worth of supplies to ride out the minor storm. The Coronavirus is proving one thing, the elderly and already infirm are more susceptible to this type of disease than the young, hardly a shocker. Yes, there will be a run on Walmart on Monday morning for TP and canned soup but there was a run on Walmart for .22 ammunition during the Obama reign of error for far different reasons. Don't come knocking at my door when you need either one.
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
MDConservative 3/15/2020 10:09:52 AM (No. 346953)
When was journalism "alive"? While Hearst was thumping for a war against Spain? When Greeley and others plumped for abolition? When Walter Cronkite lost faith in Vietnam and LBJ "lost the nation"? Journalism is mostly bullstuff, and always has been, because this is what sold newspapers, attracted radio listeners, drew eyeballs to newsreels, attract the boobs to television, and drive clicks to Drudge/Yahoo and even this salon.
Lurid nonsense makes money. Journalism was never anything but. When did crime and mayhem not make the headlines? When has a celeb turned down publicity? When was the time issues were not misrepresented? When was the era when politicians and officials were invariably accurately quoted or presented in context?
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
clayusmcret 3/15/2020 10:56:05 AM (No. 346997)
This has been a common point in many of my comments these past ~15 years. There are no more journalists; only editorialists and opinion writers; even on the front pages and during the "meat" portion of news broadcasts. Better people than me can argue about when it began.
I consider journalists and reporters as related and we have neither any more. Maybe "journalist" was a term for a more seasoned reporter at one time, but even so, his/her job was still to report; only with more detail. Now we only have editorialists from the most junior to the most senior levels. And it isn't just what the opinion is, but where it's now reported. The front page (and the meat of news broadcasts) were meant for reporting news. Now the editorial page starts at the first line of page one and ends at the bottom of the last page of any paper.
"Journalism's" intended purpose as protected in the US Constitution is NOT what we get today.
2 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
moonlightflip 3/15/2020 12:02:38 PM (No. 347063)
Finding Tucker Carlson hour essential watching.
3 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 3/15/2020 12:27:45 PM (No. 347096)
Saw an editorial cartoon where some guy is watching TV news, and a 'journalist' is lamenting how everyone has succumbed to fear and whines what are we supposed to do. The viewer clicks off his TV using his remote with a smirk on his face.
News really is becoming unwatchable. It is completely biased. Why? Because they hate Trump, and they are only interested in creating a narrative that removes him from office either through impeachment or in the next election.
Saw it in Trump's press conference where he announced the national emergency. He called on certain reporters who clearly were only interesting in creating a narrative. It was pathetic.
There is no way this coronavirus 'pandemic' can continue. it is running our day to day lives, and disrupting things on a massive scale. How long will it continue? Knowing how the Democrats and media operate, until November. Its an election year. The people pushing this kind of narrative have really crossed a line. They are trying to disrupt the entire country just to win an election.
5 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Aubreyesque 3/15/2020 5:30:38 PM (No. 347373)
Just yesterday someone posted a video on Twitter of a late night report for a news station here in Houston. Video was of a lady reporter in the parking lot of an HEB store and while she tried to begin her spiel about the shortages, a man came up behind her and started chewing her and all the other media out. The camera man started arguing with him and the lady reporter just looked down at her shoes. (Shern Min Chow, I think) The irate man was very vivid in his criticism.
Can you say 'schadenfreude'? I knew you could...
2 people like this.
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