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I can make an argument that the neutral news media ideal from the golden age of mid-century reporting is what has led to the populist disaster we are experienci
by vpribish 9y ago
I can make an argument that the neutral news media ideal from the golden age of mid-century reporting is what has led to the populist disaster we are experiencing -- and that it's really just a return to an old normal.
outside of the major news agencies neutrality got cargo-culted. the easiest way to be 'unbiased' is tell both sides, right? well, if one side is reasonable you have to go and find that opposing view to meet that (fair and) balanced standard. this gave a platform to and legitimized a host of formerly fringe ideas. all that noise and conflict sure helps meet the advertising numbers... and now we have fox news.
thing is, this polarized, biased, sensational media is what media has always been! with a rose-colored exception in conformist middle america starting in the long boom after the second world war. It's been gradually fading back to the old ways since the 70's.
- ams6110 9y agoI think that you're right about a return to the old normal. The press in past centuries was often unabashedly partisan. But I don't think that unbiased reporting is simply telling both sides. It's simply reporting the facts. No "sides." The problem with that is that reading the news is like reading meeting minutes. It's dry and boring. It doesn't sell.