Tag: journalism

Modern media exceptionalism: Did you really read the ‘news’ today?

All the news making headlines… good luck finding what matters!

This post just will take a brief out from the perils of modern life.

There ARE really things in the world happening besides the COVID hangover.. besides Democrats and Republicans fighting about the latest insignificant event.

And we are told to trust the ‘trusted’ sources.. the news media! Hear them snooze!

While real events occur, they are busy posting lame headlines for click bait and talking heads on TV for ratings. Do they even get ratings anymore? Ahh.. who cares, right? YouTube pumps them to the top of the algorithm .. Twitter brands them. They are number one baby.

But despite their accredited and heralded abilities to give you headlines that matter, they so often neglect news.

Like, the real news. The things that actually happen.

Local news had to report what big networks failed to: All this summer a hazy smoke has been in the air shading the sun even more orange near nightfall. Sure, it made for cool photos.. but where did this smoke come from, you ask? Yea.. everyone asked. Because the BIG networks failed to report on the ongoing Canadian wildfires.

An last night while you slept, a massive 8.2 quake hit near Alaska, and caused tsunami warnings throughout the Pacific. Luckily they didn’t come to fruition.

Bet you didn’t know it was the biggest there in 50 years and the shaking was continuous after the quake. You wouldn’t know because the “News” this morning did not even give it a passing mention. NOT A PEEP.

Thankfully Steve Lookner woke up in his Florida apartment to go live in the early AM. He is becoming the more trusted name in news for us!

Finally, just as quickly as news trucks descended on Florida to cover the apartment building collapse in Miami, they left.. most satellites gave up their feed long before the final body was removed from the wreckage..

I guess the attention span just isn’t ready for anything longer than a few characters of text.

We are supposed to trust them.
We are supposed to listed.

The fight so often seems to be about which network to trust. Democrats have CNN and MSNBC and Republicans get FOX and whatever other startup exists on a cable platform near you.

We debate endlessly which one is more biased when in fact they all are.

Sadly what has been lost?

Real news, real information, real reporting.

It has become obnoxious beyond repair.

July 29, 2021
USA Today fights subpoena aimed at readers of Florida FBI shooting story!! They want to know everyone that clicked on an article within a 35-minute window

Gannett, the publisher, contends that demand for details on who accessed article violates the First Amendment.

Newspaper publisher Gannett is fighting an effort by the FBI to try to determine who read a specific USA Today story about a deadly shooting in February near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that left two FBI agents dead and three wounded. The subpoena, served on Gannett in April, seeks information about who accessed the news article online during a 35-minute window starting just after 8 p.m. on the day of the shootings. The demand — signed by a senior FBI agent in Maryland — does not appear to ask for the names of those who read the story, if the news outlet has such information. Instead, the subpoena seeks internet addresses and mobile phone information that could lead to the identities of the readers.

MORE..

On February 2, FBI agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger were killed and three others were wounded when 55-year-old David Huber started shooting as they approached his apartment in Fort Lauderdale shortly after 6am.

He was suspected of possessing child porn, but the FBI has never revealed why. After killing the agents, he took his own life.

The FBI wants the phone numbers and IP addresses of everyone who clicked on the story during a 35-window that night, between 8.03pm and 8.38pm.

MORE..

USA Today is fighting back, saying the order violates the First Amendment.

‘A government demand for records that would identify specific individuals who read specific expressive materials, like the Subpoena at issue here, invades the First Amendment rights of both publisher and reader, and must be quashed accordingly,’ lawyers for Gannett, the company that owns USA Today, said.

They added said the subpoena’s vague reference to ‘a federal criminal investigation’ cannot ‘possibly justify such an abridgment of free speech.’

The FBI has not commented on the subpoena or on what grounds it should have the information.

June 5, 2021
The unfortunate moment that Jeffrey went tubin’ on Zoom
The socials have found them selves having some fun at the expense of NEW YORKER and CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin..

Toobin made the profoundly horrible judgment of masturbating during a zoom call. And people saw him doing it..

Boy, must his face be red. Not only did he perhaps jeopardize a solidly respectable career but now has created a new verb that will surely be in the urban dictionary for decades to come..
Trending tonight : Toobin’s Tube
October 19, 2020
REVENGE OF THE BILLIONAIRE BEZOS: SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

Scandal among the billionaires!! Yellow journalism! Scathing tabloids! Politics and surveillance! All the rage among the elite..

This week Jeff Bezos wrote an article for Medium that the National Enquirer had private messages and emails being sent to him demanding that his Washington POST stops investigating ties between the tabloid and Saudi Arabia. If they don’t, executives for the mostly grocery store rag stated, they would released provocative images of Bezos’ penis..

There has been a multiple set of developments since Bezos went public about David Pecker from the American Media Inc (Pecker is the real name.. ) ..

A number of people online went after the Enquirer, especially given its past ties to supporting Donald Trump. Some equated the ransom attempt on Bezos as a political move since the billionaire bought the Washington POST–a paper that has been critical of Trump since he became president..

Others felt plain bad for Bezos.. Yes he is in an elite class to himself, but treatment like that, many said, is not deserved.. and some rallied behind him just as did they did to Hulk Hogan back when he forced GAWKER into the corner..

Since that development, more level headed people have wondered if we are just having sympathy for the devil.

According to Medium, they are not commenting on whether Bezos violated their terms of service or rules by publishing the content on their platform. BUT they admonished that he will NOT be paid for it.. I am sure non payment on that blog post will be a critical hit to his wallet. (sarcasm on that of course) ..

And finally, Glenn Greenwald for THE INTERCEPT labeled Amazon Bezos as a “notorious labor abuser” and a hypocrite: Greenwald contends that as Bezos complains of the invasion of his privacy, he is busy building a surveillance state that everyone else is going to have to contend with for the rest of our digital humanity. Among the points made by Greenwald:

That’s because Amazon, the company that has made Bezos the planet’s richest human being, is a critical partner for the U.S. Government in building an ever-more invasive, militarized and sprawling surveillance state. Indeed, one of the largest components of Amazon’s business, and thus one of the most important sources of Bezos’ vast wealth and power, is working with the Pentagon and the NSA to empower the U.S. Government with more potent and more sophisticated weapons, including surveillance weapons.
In December, 2017, Amazon boasted that it had perfected new face-recognition software for crowds, which it called Rekognition. It explained that the product is intended, in large part, for use by governments and police forces around the world. The ACLU quickly warned that the product is “dangerous” and that Amazon “is actively helping governments deploy it.”

DEVELOPING..

February 9, 2019
Stephen King fans love newspapers…?

This is from an AP DISPATCH FROM MAINE:

A Maine newspaper that horrified author Stephen King by dropping its local book review coverage used his complaint to boost digital subscriptions.
King, who lives in Bangor, complained Friday about the Portland Press Herald’s decision to stop publishing freelance-written reviews of books about Maine or written by Maine authors and urged his 5.1 million Twitter followers to retweet his message.
The paper responded by promising to reinstate the local book reviews if 100 of King’s followers purchased digital subscriptions to the newspaper. It reached that goal late Saturday morning.
In a tweet announcing the subscriptions, the newspaper said, “You all are the best readers anywhere. Sincerely,” and “We love you Maine. We love you journalists. We love you newspapers.”

January 13, 2019
Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong says social media is the cancer of our time!

Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong wants the change the way people consume news on social media.. he called the platforms the “cancer of our time.”

“The short attention span we’re creating in this millennium is actually very dangerous,” said Soon-Shiong, the new owner of the Los Angeles Times. “It’s the unintended consequences of social media.”

He told “Squawk Alley” that “I say it’s the cancer of our time and social media is a form of metastasis of news. We need to change that.”

He described Facebook as a “advertising facing” organization, and therefore people cannot differentiate from “fake news,” “real news” or “opinion news.”

…there may be a financial gain to him if people stop consuming their news on social media.. but does he have a point?

Recall the old wild west days of the NET … when REAL news and FAKE NEWS collided in a beautiful storm of controversy.. now everything seems fake. Everything seems, just..unreal.

And one final thing is for sure … social media has caused news orgs to change the way they write headlines.. to change the way journalism is done. For the most part–it’s been awful. It watered down what matters and obscured what really happened.

So ….The billionaire has a point.

but … will any amount of money or opinion from a man who has it change anything…?

September 27, 2018
It’s over. Print dies: September VOGUE does not matter

It was once the biggest print magazine of the year..
They were the days..

NOW THIS, AS REPORTED BY Alexandra Steigrad:

Days before the issue hit newsstands, usually in early August, executives from Vogue, InStyle, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Glamour and W would brag about the thickness of their telephone book-sized glossies. They’d boast of the “thud” the issues made when dropped on a coffee table. The louder the thud, the more powerful the magazine.
Now that thud is more of a whimper.
“The September issue means nothing anymore,” said Sam Shahid, founder of branding, advertising and design agency Shahid & Company. “You used to hold that magazine in your hand. It takes you to a place — that’s what a magazine used to do. Now they are all doing the same thing. There’s no imagination there. It’s just pure product, it’s pleasing the advertiser.”
Shahid says a lack of funds at publishers, due to a decline in print circulation and ad revenue in the digital age, has led to a crazy scramble to attract any kind of buzz or revenue.
“There’s a desperation right now with print,” he added. “The power magazines used to have is no longer there. Celebrities are controlling fashion.”

August 12, 2018
THE BEST WHOOPS MOMENT OF 2017

This may be the best video of the entire year.. a serious interview on the BBC interrupted by a family and frantic mom herding the children off of live TV. We need to laugh more. This video helps.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh4f9AYRCZY]

December 28, 2017
The apocalypse is now. Institutions destroyed across America

Yesterday before Savanah Guthrie even was able to finish her sentence that NBC executives suddenly and decisively fired MATT LAUER from the company, news outlets already were running blazing headlines.. Drudge’s siren rolled out from the 1990s GIF graveyard.. People were able to commentate on Youtube live streams within seconds. Reactions on Twitter were ferociously pouring in.

The firing happened so quickly that there was an awkward moment when the story of Lauer’s termination was posted right under a logo still showcasing Lauer’s face..

We are saturated with media. We are surrounded by opinion.. we are disturbed by the constant zeal of citizen reporters giving us eye opening accounts in truth that was once held secret by a ruling class.

And we will never get over it.

To sum up what happened in just one day of news is almost impossible.

Many women are now coming forward with accounts that Matt Lauer had sex with them, showed them his penis, had a button under his desk to lock the door, and may have done much worse. The allegations were so specific that NBC did not do the typical media suspension/investigation. Not at all..they fired on the spot, leaving the hosts of NBC’s TODAY SHOW to only have seconds of time to react with class and expertise.

IT did not end there. Garrison Keillor last his job at PBS, though on a scale of Lauer his actions (thus far) seemed to pale in comparison. He even used humor when addressing it. Keillor said that he tried to console a woman when his hand went up her dress. She got a lawyer. He lost his job. He wrote jokingly that he always wanted to be fired, but for something heroic instead of what occurred.

And it did not end there!

Almost immediately, the President reacted on Twitter. @RealDonaldTrump decided to weigh in on the Lauer situation, albeit only briefly. His big focus seemed to be another NBC media star making millions a year; JOE SCAROROUGH. Trump Tweeted that executives of ‘fake news’ NBC should be fired.. and that Scarborough should be investigations for the ‘unsolved mystery’ in 2001.

Trump is referring to the death of then Congressman Scarborough’s intern in his office. Lori Klaisutis was found dead with a head injury. An official report at that time said she had a heart condition, leading her to somehow fall and hit her head, only to die in her desk. The family disputed that, however, because she was an avid runner. Years later, NBC kicked off DAILY KOS’ Marlo’s Moulitas for bringing this issue up on the year. At that time, Michael Moore raised questions and even registered a domain name implying that Scarborough killed his intern..

Take a breather…

All of this in one day. One sole day.

This has been a whirlwind of a year. Allegations along with dynasties destroyed.. It would appear that ever since Donald Trump won the election in 2016, there has been a day of reckoning EVERY DAY in some regard.. some form of America has crumbled, at least the America that was built over the past few decades. Political families ruined.. Hollywood stars crumbling.. Journalistic institutions filled like cesspools of sultry sexual escapades. Nothing seems safe.

We already had a decade of Catholic church scandals … But lately there has been an increase in priestly affairs, pun intended. People close to the Pope involved with human trafficking (check Wikileaks if you want proof) .. priests in Italy supposedly molesting children but still practicing sacrements.

The light of illumination is shining brightly on the scarred landscape of humanity as of late..

One particular subject matter that has yet to be fully vetted or talked about: Pedophila networks within government and Hollywood. Corey Feldman is going there. He has been publicly going there for years, but lately upped the ante with specific talk about how said awful things in Hollywood led to the drug addicted Corey Haim to kill himself..

In what now seems awful, Matt Lauer interviewed Feldman on the TODAY show a few weeks ago and was particularly rough on him about the topic, highly questioning the information and allegations presented. And now.. fast forwarding a few days and Matt Lauer’s questions seem to look very different when compared with his own potentially awful actions towards co workers and colleagues.

This is the year of illumination. Revelations.

And yes, quite possibly, this is by definition an apocalypse year..By the truest sense of the definition. The great unveiling.

Everything is beginning to unveil, unravel…Upheavel sure to come.

Locusts by Friday and end times on the weekends.

Enjoy…

November 30, 2017
A moment in history

I am preparing to write up a lengthly post about why I think, all of these years later, so many people are still fascinated and constantly watch footage of the attacks of September 11, 2001. And in the mean time I realized that on this day in 2005, August 7, Peter Jennings met his fate.

I did not want the moment to pass without mentioning what a brilliant and amazing reporter I thought Jennings was. His voice was able to comfort me through a number of troubling world events. His evening news broadcast was reliable.. The day he died was a terrible moment.

On that note, here was the final sign off from the man of the evening news hour on April 5 2005. With class.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vRfdgU2Q4E?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque]

August 7, 2017