What is going on with this trend of people in sensitive positions “leaking” to the press whatever they feel like for any number of reasons? Not a week, and sometimes a day, passes without a big to semi-huge news story about the administration, the war, the situation within a major corporation, or an industry being pushed by the media with all kinds of unsubstantiated “facts” that were passed on anonymously?
When did journalism start taking this new course? I can’t imagine anyone getting a degree in journalism by passing off dozens of articles written about what is in their best interests (getting a good grade) without digging up sources and citing verifiable facts. I could be a journalist if that was all readers required.
I was fed up with poll-driven news long ago, but this is taking lazy writing to the next level. Now you don’t even need to provide a name, organization, or data to pass off a story to the world under a major news label, thus giving the piece credibility. Stories need to have 2-3 separate, verifiable sources to be considered news… right?
I think that this new form of media is teaching people, and especially our teens and college students that they can turn off their brains when they read. It produces a “just give it to me” mindset for taking in information, and that can be dangerous. I can think of a time last century that something like that happened. It ended up involving most of the world because one person was able to convince enough people that it was being kind to end the suffering of a disabled child. It all went downhill from there.
That involved a different method of delivery, but was disseminated using the same passive reading/listening by the public. How many topics in the media today can you think of where one side is seen as being correct and the other side is intolerably closed-minded/stupid/ignorant/arrogant?
I’m asking so many questions to get you involved. I’m not going to be one to just spew out opinion without engaging you, and you shouldn’t take anything less from anyone else.Â
