Posted on 03/28/2022 1:02:22 PM PDT by MosesKnows
The Media, Then and Now
I realized several decades ago that newspapers and the broadcast media were no longer reliable sources for accurate reporting of events. That caused me to question whether they were ever accurate.
As a child I remember the newspaper, the Journal, it held no interest to me but several friends earned money delivering it daily. We had a single radio station. On Sundays, my father would get the Sunday edition of the New York Times, the epitome of news reporting. The Grey Lady, “All The News That’s Fit to Print”, is that still on their front page?
The public school introduced me to the newspaper. The part I strongly recall is the notion that the first paragraph informed us of, who, what, when, where, why, and how. But before I read the first paragraph I must be motivated to read the report, hence the headline.
The point is, we all had access to the same news. We had people on the radio who would share their opinion of the news, their opinion of the facts. We called them commentators because they commented on the news. The newspaper had an Opinion Page but also an Op-Ed page, Opposition to Editorials page.
I searched the Internet trying to discover the source of a movie quote regarding newspaper reporting that I thought I had experienced. The situation I recall was a conversation between a seasoned reporter and a cub reporter. The cub reporter asked the seasoned report what the difference was between this new position called journalist, and a reporter. The answer stuck in my mind, a reporter reports the news whilst the journalist stars in the news. I could not find it or anything like it. Was it Mark Twain who observed, I’m so old I can remember things that never happened?
A few days ago a came across a 1952 movie, Deadline USA.
Deadline - U.S.A. is a 1952 American film noir crime film starring Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, and Kim Hunter, written and directed by Richard Brooks. It is the story of a crusading newspaper editor who exposes a gangster's crimes while also trying to keep the paper from going out of business, and contains a subplot of him trying to reconcile with his ex-wife.
I decided to watch it in anticipation that it may contain the memory I had. It did not. However, it did have a scene and words that contained that sentiment. The movie did more than fulfill that expectation but also reminded me of the respect newspapers once had.
Newspapers have always had critics;
Thomas Jefferson said, “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.”
If you aren't reading the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you are reading the newspaper, you are misinformed. Mark Twain
"Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers is another." - G. K. Chesterton
Therefore, we have that. However, I grew up forming my opinions by trusting the news reporters and learning how to pronounce words and experience proper English grammar by listening to the commentators.
These are from the movie:
The newspaperman advises a journalism student:
Newspaper: A newspaperman is the best profession in the world; do you know what a profession is?
Student: A profession is a skilled job.
Newspaper: No, a profession is a performance for public good. That’s why newspaper work is a profession.
So you wanna be a reporter, here is some advice about this racket, don’t ever change it, it may not be the oldest profession, but it’s the best.
This is the sentiment I referred to from my memory; close enough.
I came over the river Jordan for a weekly scandal sheet and asked old John Garrison for a job, are you a journalist or a reporter he said, what's the difference I said, a journalist makes itself a hero of the story while the reporter is only the witness.
This was a thought-provoking scene:
Newspaper: Why didn't you go to the police, Mrs. Schmidt?
Mrs. Schmidt: The police, I do not know police. I know newspaper, this newspaper. For thirty-one years, I know this paper. I come to America. I wish to be good citizen, how to do this? From the newspaper, it shows me how to read and write.
My Bessie died, you do not say bad things of her, you do not show bad pictures of her, you try to find who hurt my Bessie. Good, I help, I think what to do. I go on subway, I ride all day, I think, I come here.
Newspaper: By doing this, you may be in danger like you're son.
Mrs. Schmidt: You're not afraid, you're paper is not afraid, I am not afraid.
This scene illustrates the future for newspapers:
I see the light brothers, save your soul sinner, save your tears, this is what the readers want, throw the atheist out, don't sell it short, it's got twice our circulation and three times our advertising budget... Well, it’s yellow but it's not exactly a newspaper. It keeps its people working. I don't know maybe if I'd given you this kind of paper you'd still have jobs. There is a place for this kind of sheet. All right so it's not your kind of paper. Who do we put papers out for, you, you, or you. It’s not enough anymore to give them just news. They want comics, contests, and puzzles, they want to know how to bake a cake, win friends, and influence the future. Ergo, horoscopes, tips on the horses, interpretations of dreams so they can win on the numbers lotteries, and if they accidentally stumble on the First-Page….the News.
I cannot trust the media; perhaps I never should have.
Let me close with this meme.
If the news is fake or misleading, imagine how bad history will be.
Never could trust them but the last 5 years it got worse and now with social media had joined in. For a bit the people could post the truth on social media and you could form your own opinion because you could not trust that everything Facebook had isn’t all truth either. Trump wanted to remove certain privileges that social media enjoyed but now that went away when the dems knew they could use them and the owners are dems.
Ransom Stoddard: You're not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?
Maxwell Scott: No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
Just remember this:
Newspapers, magazines, TV news, web site news, etc.
do not exist to “tell you the news”.
They exist to “sell advertising”.
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Such as it ever was.
It got worse when the Messiah was selected, twice, as president.
They lost all pretenses of objectivity when Trump was elected.
There was an old Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode (The Werewolf) where Kolchak goes on a cruise and tells a fellow he’s a reporter. The passenger replies and says something along the lines of “Oh, the Fifth Column” and Kolchak responds, “No, the Fourth Estate”. I’d say the fellow passenger was right.
A major proponent of advocacy journalism is Margaret Sullivan currently of the Washington Post (previously the NYT and Buffalo News).
Newspapers used to be overtly political. Back then, there were multiple newspapers in every city.
It got worse when the Messiah was selected, twice, as president.
They lost all pretenses of objectivity when Trump was elected.
Pretty close.
When the Federal Communications Commission started to regulate the Radio Networks, FDR made sure all those in the networks were Progressives.
Progressive radio networks became progressive television networks.
Progressive do not have morals or ethics. They seek power to do what they want with the world.
Progressive realized much of their power when they got rid of Senator McCarthy.
They got drunk with power when they deposed President Nixon.
It has gotten much worse since.
Walter Duranty, New York Times, was sympathetic to Stalin and a Holodomor denier.
That was in the 1930’s.
They barely covered the Holocaust!
See Tagline.
You’re right of course. 🙂
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