3 ms·

Lots of things that have existed for long are no longer tolerated. Racism and sexism for two prominent examples. Expecting high standards from those tasked with

Lots of things that have existed for long are no longer tolerated. Racism and sexism for two prominent examples. Expecting high standards from those tasked with informing the public seems very reasonable to me.

jacquesm 3y ago
There always has been a dividing line between quality journalism and what amounts to clickbait. Bild was a thing when I grew up. If you want better journalism pay for it. The whole idea that news and media should be free is part and parcel of the destruction of quality journalism and it is the very same people bitching about the quality of journalism that want all of their news to be free. No matter how poor we were my mom was paying for a newspaper because she felt it important to stay informed and for us to stay informed. That newspaper may have slowly died on account of the TV and the Internet but those journalists still exist and if you put some effort into it you can find them.
- dotancohen 3y ago
  You are correct - I have no problem paying a reasonable fee for good journalism to be informed. The problem is that poor journalism influences the masses. And in a democracy, the masses' opinion is assigned a higher decision-making weight than is the opinion of the informed minority.
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    Yes, that is a massive problem. But I don't blame the journalists per se: the masses are part and parcel of that and they collectively seem to prefer to be lied to over the unvarnished truth, which as often as not is very uncomfortable. People want simplicity and predictability, they don't want to have to exercise their grey matter too much, they don't want to be inconvenienced and they - and this one really gets me - would prefer not to know. That makes it easier to ignore things and to focus on the little joys in life instead of on the overarching much larger troubles.
    - dotancohen 3y ago
      That sounds like quite the argument against democracy.

jacquesm 3y ago

There always has been a dividing line between quality journalism and what amounts to clickbait. Bild was a thing when I grew up. If you want better journalism pay for it. The whole idea that news and media should be free is part and parcel of the destruction of quality journalism and it is the very same people bitching about the quality of journalism that want all of their news to be free. No matter how poor we were my mom was paying for a newspaper because she felt it important to stay informed and for us to stay informed. That newspaper may have slowly died on account of the TV and the Internet but those journalists still exist and if you put some effort into it you can find them.

dotancohen 3y ago
You are correct - I have no problem paying a reasonable fee for good journalism to be informed. The problem is that poor journalism influences the masses. And in a democracy, the masses' opinion is assigned a higher decision-making weight than is the opinion of the informed minority.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Yes, that is a massive problem. But I don't blame the journalists per se: the masses are part and parcel of that and they collectively seem to prefer to be lied to over the unvarnished truth, which as often as not is very uncomfortable. People want simplicity and predictability, they don't want to have to exercise their grey matter too much, they don't want to be inconvenienced and they - and this one really gets me - would prefer not to know. That makes it easier to ignore things and to focus on the little joys in life instead of on the overarching much larger troubles.
  - dotancohen 3y ago
    That sounds like quite the argument against democracy.