4 ms·

I struggle to see how journalism has any positive value at all. Edit: Downvotes to this controversial statement are legitimate, but please be mindful of the nu

I struggle to see how journalism has any positive value at all. Edit: Downvotes to this controversial statement are legitimate, but please be mindful of the nuance: "I struggle to see" is an expression of doubt, not certainty. I struggle to see because I'm believably told there's something there; if I was convinced there's no value, I'd phrased this completely differently.

skinkestek 6y ago
It has enourmous positive value and I actively support it by subscribing to newspapers that I don't strictly need (or even have time to properly read). Other journalists around here have uncovered big problems in how we care for elderly, corruption etc etc etc. Journalists makes us aware of what is happening in Syria, US, UK etc so we can better compare different approaches. Journalists sometimes prevents war or at least sometimes puts an end to war crimes. The problem is we the quality varies extremely even for the same news outlet and even the same reporters - and we all suffer somewhat from Gell-Mann Amnesia.
- prionassembly 6y ago
  Yes, information has positive value. Maybe what I said about journalism is best applied to “news media”. Journalists also do in-depth book-length work that’s less time-indexed and more atemporal. Have you seen the news segment in Wikipedia’s homepage? It directly leads you to a rabbit hole of information rather than build a narrative of any kind. Right now everybody knows not to speak to journalists — it’s a vampiric activity that will prey on your real life in ways you have no control over. I see all the upsides you see (I did say “struggle to find positive value”, not “know definitively there’s none) but the net result of journalists at work is dubious at best. Even a daily news cycle is more about maintaining narrative threads than exploring issues in depth, let alone the 24 x 7 x {style and audience} x {degrees of meta} x {filter bubbles} news space that floods current discourse.

skinkestek 6y ago

It has enourmous positive value and I actively support it by subscribing to newspapers that I don't strictly need (or even have time to properly read). Other journalists around here have uncovered big problems in how we care for elderly, corruption etc etc etc. Journalists makes us aware of what is happening in Syria, US, UK etc so we can better compare different approaches. Journalists sometimes prevents war or at least sometimes puts an end to war crimes. The problem is we the quality varies extremely even for the same news outlet and even the same reporters - and we all suffer somewhat from Gell-Mann Amnesia.

prionassembly 6y ago
Yes, information has positive value. Maybe what I said about journalism is best applied to “news media”. Journalists also do in-depth book-length work that’s less time-indexed and more atemporal. Have you seen the news segment in Wikipedia’s homepage? It directly leads you to a rabbit hole of information rather than build a narrative of any kind. Right now everybody knows not to speak to journalists — it’s a vampiric activity that will prey on your real life in ways you have no control over. I see all the upsides you see (I did say “struggle to find positive value”, not “know definitively there’s none) but the net result of journalists at work is dubious at best. Even a daily news cycle is more about maintaining narrative threads than exploring issues in depth, let alone the 24 x 7 x {style and audience} x {degrees of meta} x {filter bubbles} news space that floods current discourse.