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You could have said the same thing about Photoshop. Journalism is as good as the integrity of the source. In places, you could argue that's systematically erodi

You could have said the same thing about Photoshop. Journalism is as good as the integrity of the source. In places, you could argue that's systematically eroding. I don't think you can argue that fake videos are what will bring it down.

labster 9y ago
Journalism is as good as ever. It's easier than ever before to gather facts and verify sources. The problems faced are external to journalism: a losing business model, and government saying that journalists aren't trustworthy. But the integrity of the press is fine. There are less yellow outfits than there were a century ago, even.
- mc32 9y ago
  You can say that but the press (whether because they have no money or they can't afford to be second with the hot news) is complicit in the perceived decline and real decline. It used to be you had to have two independent sources before you took an individual source's word. Now rumor becomes newsworthy --it's like the Enquirer won. They are also owned by big cos (Amazon, Conde Nast, Carlos Slim, Murdock, etc.) and have very clear biases. NOt that biases didn't exist before (Hearst papers) but on day to day stuff they played it pretty level. Now, they go for the incendiary whereas before they were focused on big issues --the issues that mattered to society at large rather than smaller divisive issues. But divisiveness gets you clicks.
- belorn 9y ago
  You say the integrity of the press is fine, so lets look at two examples: Huffington post and fox news during the 2016 election and any international or global news related to political subjects. Terms like hyperpartisan comes in mind, as does recollections that number of articles and time on front pages was something like 1:20 depending on which side the news site leaned towards. Integrity of the press would not be the words I would use. http://wilkins.law.harvard.edu/projects/2017-08_mediacloud/Graphics/Fig7_11.pdf http://wilkins.law.harvard.edu/projects/2017-08_mediacloud/G... Remember that image? I would bet good money that the amount of green has gone down steadily the last 50 years, and Journalism is at the lowest point it has ever been. I would also predict that the amount of politician donations and lobbying has never been as high in the Journalism industry, nor the amount of quid pro quo between journalists and politicians.

labster 9y ago

Journalism is as good as ever. It's easier than ever before to gather facts and verify sources. The problems faced are external to journalism: a losing business model, and government saying that journalists aren't trustworthy. But the integrity of the press is fine. There are less yellow outfits than there were a century ago, even.

mc32 9y ago
You can say that but the press (whether because they have no money or they can't afford to be second with the hot news) is complicit in the perceived decline and real decline. It used to be you had to have two independent sources before you took an individual source's word. Now rumor becomes newsworthy --it's like the Enquirer won. They are also owned by big cos (Amazon, Conde Nast, Carlos Slim, Murdock, etc.) and have very clear biases. NOt that biases didn't exist before (Hearst papers) but on day to day stuff they played it pretty level. Now, they go for the incendiary whereas before they were focused on big issues --the issues that mattered to society at large rather than smaller divisive issues. But divisiveness gets you clicks.
belorn 9y ago
You say the integrity of the press is fine, so lets look at two examples: Huffington post and fox news during the 2016 election and any international or global news related to political subjects. Terms like hyperpartisan comes in mind, as does recollections that number of articles and time on front pages was something like 1:20 depending on which side the news site leaned towards. Integrity of the press would not be the words I would use. http://wilkins.law.harvard.edu/projects/2017-08_mediacloud/Graphics/Fig7_11.pdf http://wilkins.law.harvard.edu/projects/2017-08_mediacloud/G... Remember that image? I would bet good money that the amount of green has gone down steadily the last 50 years, and Journalism is at the lowest point it has ever been. I would also predict that the amount of politician donations and lobbying has never been as high in the Journalism industry, nor the amount of quid pro quo between journalists and politicians.