It’s like watching your childhood home being destroyed.
The bulldozers move a little slower in this destruction, but the outcome is still the same. A pile of junk hauled off to the landfill.
Oh, maybe I’m a bit extreme with that comparison, but truth is, it’s hard to tell whose ratings are falling faster—those of the Cold-Hearted Social Engineer in the White House, or the activist old media that adore him so (oh, just for the record, the Democrat Congress is actually at the bottom in this survey.)
Gallup just completed its annual Confidence in Institutions survey and things do not look good for the news media. Also, a recent Pew Research study points out the biggest decline in audiences is with the network newscasts, local newscasts and newspapers. Hmmmm, wonder why?
Those who took the poll ranked journalists right near the bottom with bankers in lack of confidence. Interesting — bankers have been demonized and destroyed by Democrats and their activist Old Media for the last four or five years and now they all share the room in the basement.
Yes, it pains me. I look back on a career of 30 years and think back on the times when I was free to report as a journalist. Take a story from start to finish, investigate it, report it, and actually right a wrong. That rarely happens anymore.
Just for fun, this week I posted on You Tube a news story from 1998. Sources had told me the UNLV Athletic Director was talking like a racist in front of other employees. I investigated the story, used many trusted sources, and “broke” the story. One interesting note, half an hour before I did this story, a lawyer from one of the most prominent law firms in Las Vegas called me and threatened legal action if I went forward. My news management trusted me and allowed me to continue and do the story. You may not notice it in the video, but there was plenty of anxiety inside as I took to the news set. I was making some serious charges against a person in power in the community. My reputation was on the line, and now that there was a legal threat, I wanted to make sure I got the story right:
A three-week investigation by the university followed my story, and eventually the AD admitted our story was correct. I uncovered that story myself from start to finish, and the rest of the local media followed shortly with their own versions.
I was never one of those “tough guy” journalists going out there and trying to destroy somebody, but if the situation demanded it, I could turn on the heat and viewers knew it and trusted me.
Today newsrooms are a different beast. Most stories are done by committee instead of by a single trusted reporter. Stories are done to fit the research of the moment and the promo department wants to make sure the story will fit the demographics of the lead-in programming. If your lead-in is Desperate Housewives, you’d better find a story about a supposed demented male attacker to lead the newscast, instead of the investigation of corruption in the local union that costs the community millions. Research says you pick the first story because it’s supposed to be smart business.
This all creates an interesting mix. Yes, the leftist agenda of the activist old media is destroying the business. They can no longer be trusted to “level” with the viewer, but perhaps just as important, TV news, both local and national are spending so much time trying to make sure they have a product that sells, that by the time they do that, nobody is buying. Yes, you can over-think, even in the news business. Or show business, as the case may be.
My solution—in case anybody cares—is to get reporters you can trust to tell the truth and put it in proper context, and get out of the way. It’ll never happen, but the alternative is to keep swinging the wrecking balls.