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Dumbing down of journalism

Discussion pertaining to the Tri-Cities, Flint, Mt. Pleasant, and Bad Axe
sinklair
Posts: 2217
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Dumbing down of journalism

Post by sinklair » Sat Dec 28, 2019 12:18 am

There’s been a lot of criticism of the lack of real news seen on local TV stations.

One of the reasons for the dumbing down if local journalism is the pursuit of Facebook and Twitter like, shares, engagement. Stations are using high-tech shaming methods like Shareablee and Crowdtangle to call out anchors and reporters who aren’t spending significant time doing Facebook lives, polling, sharing selfies, asking asinine personal questions.

Imagine all the real news that could be generated if anchors, reporters and the staff dedicated to social media posts actually used that time to do real reporting, to actually “ask the tough questions” and to “hold the powerful accountable”.

We spend soooooo much tine on a platform that does little to grow ratings or revenue and I suggest it actually hurts our efforts to provide real news.

Take a look at stations’ social media feeds and see what they consider “newsworthy”... marginally interesting national news, viewer pictures from their Christmas celebrations, posts about “baby Yoda”... I feel dumber just scrolling through this information.

What you won’t find... stories of substance. In a market that has numerous societal issues like a failing economy, underperforming schools, corruption at city hall, institutional racism, rampant crime. Those stories take time and focus. It takes time to pour through documents, sit through public meetings, attend court hearings, develop sources. Time that reporters and anchors simply don’t have because they get dressed down if we don’t do more Twitter, Facebook, Instagram posts.

But that’s what you get from corporate top-down mandates and local managers who put profits over quality journalism because they’ve come from the ranks of sales.

End of rant... I’ve now gotta ask viewers if they plan to make New Years Resolutions that they’ll break by January 4th.



sinklair
Posts: 2217
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: Dumbing down of journalism

Post by sinklair » Sat Dec 28, 2019 9:41 am

Edward R Murrow said it best that TV (now add websites and social media) is just a box of wires if you don’t use the platform to say something important. Sadly, that’s not the priority at local stations. Chasing Facebook followers, Twitter likes is more important to those in charge.

It’s time for regime change and for someone to step up with a vision that provides a newscast with real news. Viewers will seek out and support a real newscast. Need evidence: 60 Minutes remains one of the top shows on TV after all these years. Is it easy or cheap? Nope, but for my profit-loving “friends”... it makes a few million dollars every year for CBS.



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