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This was a really striking sentence: > We've witnessed a halving of journalists since 2008, while the number of corporate communications execs has tripled. In
by JauntTrooper 7y ago
This was a really striking sentence:
> We've witnessed a halving of journalists since 2008, while the number of corporate communications execs has tripled. In sum, the ratio of bullshit/spin to watchdogs has increased sixfold.
I personally know half a dozen former journalists that recently moved over to PR, but I hadn't realized had much of a sea change it's been over the last decade.
- factorialboy 7y ago> We've witnessed a halving of journalists since 2008, while the number of corporate communications execs has tripled. In sum, the ratio of bullshit/spin to watchdogs has increased sixfold. This assumes that journalists are capable of spotting (and willing to) spin / bullshit in the first place.
- myth_buster 7y agoNot sure whether trolling. There has been some very good investigative journalism done in the tech sector. Theranos/Uber/Tumblr comes to mind. Specially from media outlets outside of the SV echo chamber.
- jlarocco 7y agoJournalism is a big field. Just because journalists did a good job in three situations you know of, doesn't mean the average quality is plummetting. As counterexamples, they've done a terrible job investigating anything related to Trump, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. News outlets are too dependent on advertising, ratings, and public opinion now.
- robdachshund 7y ago"Journalism" has undergone a clear shift from offering a neutral, informative perspective on a topic to blatantly telling readers what to think. Every article is now an opinion piece.
- jancsika 7y agoIt's probably not sixfold since journalism includes a mix of the intrepid and the opportunist. But it's likely on the order of at least twofold increase as the opportunists are the most likely to have moved from journalism to PR. But the idea that there isn't an increase in the ratio at all is laughable. You'd have to be some type of fascinating conspiracy theorist to believe that none of the Pulitzer-winning stories of the past decade uncovered any type of corruption or wrongdoing.
- CydeWeys 7y agoA lot of the stories coming out about the malfeasance at We are coming from good old-fashioned investigative reporting: tracking down former and current employees and interviewing them (on and off the record) about what's going on. This is the bread and butter of journalism. What's so unique about a tech company that it would be immune to standard journalistic practices? And is We even truly a tech company anyway?
- cure 7y ago> And is We even truly a tech company anyway? Nope. Just a real estate play trying to be valued at tech level multiples. That's part of reason We's in trouble.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- dymk 7y agoI guess they took their own advice and learned to code.
- mintplant 7y agoFor the last time, journalists reporting on retraining programs for coal miners != journalists personally claiming learning to code solves everything. This is a dumb myth that needs to die.
- dymk 7y ago"For the last time". Right. A quick google search shows plenty of news outlets running articles about how you should learn to code. It's not a dumb myth, it's dumb reporting.
- glennpratt 7y agoI just did this and no major outlets came up. When I looked for major outlets, the articles were skeptical.