The future of my future

Remember when I told y'all I was in a class called "Business of News"?

We talked about something that really struck me. Allow me to enlighten you.

Our whole discussion this semester is going to be about the media. When I talk about the "media", I'm talking about broadcasting and news specifically. As we've studied so far, we've noticed that the media is supposed to be a common good. It was designed specifically to keep the government in check and to alert the public when there was some fishy business going on. Today it seems as though the media works for the government. Sensationalism with a dash of biased opinions makes the recipe for media disaster. However, are the newspaper and broadcast execs doing anything about it? No.

Instead of reducing sensationalism and going back to the roots: you know, unbiased journalism, people would actually read and watch! When we have Fox & Friends and ABC's Today show, we journalists are entertainers, subject to the celebrity status instead of being what we are: truth-driven, objective REPORTERS. I'm sorry but when I signed up for this, I didn't read in the SPJC that we have to be entertainers as well as reporters.

The dollar has been the industry's Moses for quite some time. Because the views have switched from ture reporting to how can we make a quick buck, the quality of work has suffered.

Now, I'm not speaking for all journalists when I talk like this. There are great writers and reporters out there who care about the story and not whether this is going to be their big break in a form of a check. Many green journalists don't have the Benjamins on their minds when they first start out. They want the stories. They want to make contacts and meet people and report the stories some may overlook.

Unfortunately, the former is what stands out and what makes the rest of us suffer. There's a video I'm going to post here that we saw this morning. It's about Edward R. Murrow. He was a breakthrough journalist who flourished in radio and broadcasting. He made a speech in 1958 that struck the hammer right on the head. He made a little prophesy in 1958 that, sadly, has come true.

Take a listen.

Goodnight and Good luck



Well, I think that speaks for all of us.