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It's not "American Media". It's "Media". The issue is worlwide.

by kaoD 13y ago

chalst 13y ago
I think the US faces some distinctive problems - in particular, the rest of the world has not seen the same kind of collapse of quality local reporting that lies behind the Bell, CA example he gives.
- knowtheory 13y ago
  And incidentally, that's one of the primary findings of the FCC's Information Needs of Communities report: http://www.fcc.gov/info-needs-communities http://www.fcc.gov/info-needs-communities National media is more or less fine. Local and state reporting has all but disappeared.
- kaoD 13y ago
  (citation needed) Reporting is awful everywhere and at any scale. Media's job is no longer to spread information, but to create opinion. They're not mass informative media, they're mass propaganda tools. That's why they lack quality: their goal is fulfilled even if their quality as informative media is very low.
  - chalst 13y ago
    > (citation needed) I can recommend, despite the paywall, Michael Massing's 2009 piece, 'A New Horizon for News' on what happened to the US news business: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/sep/24/a-new-horizon-for-the-news http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/sep/24/a-new-h... As for the situation outside the US, I have close knowledge only of the UK (where there has been a decline in print news, but not comparable), and Germany (which is generally very healthy, not to say I can't complain about it at length). What I hear about print news reporting in France, Italy, and Japan is more positive than negative. > Media's job is no longer to spread information, but to create opinion. I think this is oversimplifying and rather cynical. Much TV news is like this, but much print reporting and some for-web reporting (Bloomberg, Reuters) is informational in intent. I don't particularly enjoy reading the New York Times, say, their attempt to render stories in accessible terms tends to rub me up the wrong way, but I admire the scope and ambition of their straight news reporting. And they bring a lot of news to light. What's the alternative? What would the world be like if we only got the kind of news from Fox News and weblogs, and nothing from news teams like those of the NYT.
    - VLM 13y ago
      "What's the alternative? What would the world be like if we only got the kind of news from Fox News and weblogs, and nothing from news teams like those of the NYT." It would probably look a lot like news.google.com. I extensively customize my sources and I get a lot of Reuters, BBC, stuff like that. When I see infotainment articles, I filter it out at the source.
angelgcuartero 13y ago
Quite right, it happens all around. It sometimes makes me think if the ultimate mission of media is disinformation.
DanBC 13y ago
Yes. But I guess if they had missed out the "American" we'd have people saying "The world is bigger than America". I live in England. We have the BBC. BBC Radio Four news coverage is excellent, but even that is lousy when it comes to a lot of international news. The BBC World Service is better, for obvious reasons, and domestic BBC does make extensive use of their foreign correspondents. Just not so much in news bulletin coverage. UK print media, especially newspapers, especially the lower end, is a cesspit of vile idiocy. I'm surprised there's no movie about it. It's disturbing how often the Daily Mail gets posted to HN.
- arethuza 13y ago
  To be fair to the Daily Mail, I don't think it's all "vile idiocy" - just about 98% of it (especially the "sidebar of shame").

It's not "American Media". It's "Media". The issue is worlwide.

by kaoD 13y ago

It's not "American Media". It's "Media". The issue is worlwide.

I think the US faces some distinctive problems - in particular, the rest of the world has not seen the same kind of collapse of quality local reporting that lies behind the Bell, CA example he gives.

knowtheory 13y ago
And incidentally, that's one of the primary findings of the FCC's Information Needs of Communities report: http://www.fcc.gov/info-needs-communities http://www.fcc.gov/info-needs-communities National media is more or less fine. Local and state reporting has all but disappeared.
kaoD 13y ago
(citation needed) Reporting is awful everywhere and at any scale. Media's job is no longer to spread information, but to create opinion. They're not mass informative media, they're mass propaganda tools. That's why they lack quality: their goal is fulfilled even if their quality as informative media is very low.
- chalst 13y ago
  > (citation needed) I can recommend, despite the paywall, Michael Massing's 2009 piece, 'A New Horizon for News' on what happened to the US news business: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/sep/24/a-new-horizon-for-the-news http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/sep/24/a-new-h... As for the situation outside the US, I have close knowledge only of the UK (where there has been a decline in print news, but not comparable), and Germany (which is generally very healthy, not to say I can't complain about it at length). What I hear about print news reporting in France, Italy, and Japan is more positive than negative. > Media's job is no longer to spread information, but to create opinion. I think this is oversimplifying and rather cynical. Much TV news is like this, but much print reporting and some for-web reporting (Bloomberg, Reuters) is informational in intent. I don't particularly enjoy reading the New York Times, say, their attempt to render stories in accessible terms tends to rub me up the wrong way, but I admire the scope and ambition of their straight news reporting. And they bring a lot of news to light. What's the alternative? What would the world be like if we only got the kind of news from Fox News and weblogs, and nothing from news teams like those of the NYT.
  - VLM 13y ago
    "What's the alternative? What would the world be like if we only got the kind of news from Fox News and weblogs, and nothing from news teams like those of the NYT." It would probably look a lot like news.google.com. I extensively customize my sources and I get a lot of Reuters, BBC, stuff like that. When I see infotainment articles, I filter it out at the source.

angelgcuartero 13y ago

Quite right, it happens all around. It sometimes makes me think if the ultimate mission of media is disinformation.

DanBC 13y ago

Yes. But I guess if they had missed out the "American" we'd have people saying "The world is bigger than America". I live in England. We have the BBC. BBC Radio Four news coverage is excellent, but even that is lousy when it comes to a lot of international news. The BBC World Service is better, for obvious reasons, and domestic BBC does make extensive use of their foreign correspondents. Just not so much in news bulletin coverage. UK print media, especially newspapers, especially the lower end, is a cesspit of vile idiocy. I'm surprised there's no movie about it. It's disturbing how often the Daily Mail gets posted to HN.

arethuza 13y ago
To be fair to the Daily Mail, I don't think it's all "vile idiocy" - just about 98% of it (especially the "sidebar of shame").