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A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both. -- James Madison
“When a dog bites a
man that is not news,
because it happens so often.
But if a man bites a
dog, that is news.”
- Editor John B. Bogart, New York Sun
man that is not news,
because it happens so often.
But if a man bites a
dog, that is news.”
- Editor John B. Bogart, New York Sun
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27 comments:
The biggest issue facing the American press today is change. I feel that we are on the verge of a major reshaping of how we look at and consume news. The last 20 or so years have brought the rise of the internet and thus, part one of this revolution.
Part two, however, is a mystery. Some have speculated that tablet technology will be the future of the written word. Products like Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle are supposed to reshape the way we look at the daily news.
As of now, however, these technologies feel more like giant toys than revolutionary technology. The gap between these two parts of this news revolution has left the industry in a state of disorder. Today, news papers are losing money, opinion blogs are being mistaken for hard news, and tablet technology is in its infancy. This disorder brought on by the radical change in conventional news media is the biggest issue facing the American press today because it has the potential to bankrupt reputable news sources and leave us without a viable solution for how to receive news in the 21st century.
I believe the biggest issue facing the American press today it it's lack of authenticity. Too often news programs distort news, giving the audience their take on certain events, as well as deciding what information to broadcast. The motives of many television news networks, as well as radio and print are economically based which prevent the validity of the press.
I think more Americans are starting to realize the flaws in the press and either feeling distaste towards the media or disconnecting themselves from it completely. Many Americans do not trust the media which hurts our social structure as well as denying certain Americans the right to know important issues facing them. American press needs to revolutionize back to the past, and start treating authenticity as a main priority.
I think the biggest issue facing the American Press these days is largely a component of what we discussed in class #1; there have been so many 'advances' with regards to the technology through which we consume media in such a short period of time that it has created a major disconnect between the younger generations who insist that they need smart phones by 10th grade and the generation immediately before them (parents) who probably grew up listening to vinyl and may not have even owned a cell phone until after their kids (the smart phone generation) were born.
The effect of this disconnect is that the generation that currently controls the news is still set on providing the news as they know it (globally relevant, important information) while the younger generation - now more connected to the media than ever through smart phones, wifi ipods, laptops, etc. - really doesn't want "news" on their smart phones; they want entertainment, social networking and gossip. This isn't the only factor contributing to the fact that what now passes for news is often watered down or littered with the kind of gossip that only teenage girls should care about, but it certainly seems - to me - to be the most obvious.
Just as many teenagers own blackberrys as businessmen, and I would imagine that the teenagers actually use theirs to consume more media than the businessmen who are likely checking the news occasionally and otherwise reading emails and conducting business. Unfortunately, as we discussed in class, not all of the goals of the media are quite congruent with one another and the major aim of turning a profit means that the providers of media have to cater to their biggest consumers - in this case the younger generations who aren't using their smart phones and gadgets to look for 'news' but rather seek gossip and entertainment. At this very moment the front page of MSN is displaying several headlines; among them:
Miss Universe Entrants Show Swimsuit Style
Shakira In Hot Water Over Fountain Frolic
Did Expendables Repeat as Box Office Champs
Glee Stars On Working With Britney Spears
Phillipines Bus Stormed, Egg Recall & More
Only one of those headlines sounds like actual news to me, and it has multiple stories all bundled under one headline with the most abridged title of the group. Sad.
The biggest issue facing the press in America is its struggle to stay valid and maintain a solid definition. People's attention spans shorten every day and it's tough to stay current with all that's going on whether it be insignificant or huge. After today's lecture, I really had to stop and consider how very skewed our views of the press/media are. The fact that we can't clearly define what the "press" is for is troubling. The lines are too blurry as far as what is important, what is news, why it matters, etc. It's an issue because it's almost like the media is outdating itself. New things become important or relevant before bigger things that occurred a second before it have a chance to lose their importance.
One of the ideas that seems to be emerging from the comments thus far is that the digital revolution has rendered our traditional concept of the "press" outmoded and irrelevant. But so what? Horses became irrelevant with the mass production of cars. Would you want to go back to riding horses? (Maybe, given gas prices -- and pollution.)
Since consumer's desires for the newest, most technologically advanced gadgets and tools has permeated throughout much of the United States, old traditions and aspects of the American life have changed. Computers, which were once never even around, have now become the means of how people get their entertainment, network, do research, write papers, make spreadsheets, and get the news among many other things. Many common and once useful items are slowly but surely losing their value especially as the up and coming generations emerge. This would have to be the biggest issue facing press in America today. The news is readily available at the click of a mouse or a tap on the keyboard. Not only that, but whatever kind of news you want to read about or view clips of is available from pretty much anywhere in the world. This convenience in obtaining press via internet outshines and compromises the once extremely popular newspaper. The people that once read tangible newspapers are converting to their computers and the emerging generations are completely skipping out on reading actual newspaper at all. This gives the newspaper and other paper forms of press a lower demand. This current trend in obtaining news through the internet could critically damage newspaper companies business, which is a huge issue concerning American press today.
The biggest problem facing the American Press today is not the increased usage of digital mediums as a way to consume information but rather a way to effectively present "the news" through these medium in a way that will grab an audience's attention and hold it for long enough for them to pay attention and actually believe that what they are reading is the truth. Like it or not, tablets are the future of journalism. Soon we will download the paper every morning before our daily commute. That is something we cannot change but we do have the power to change people's perceptions of the media.
In the current economic climate, people feel as victimized as ever and distrust of the media has gone much farther than just thinking that the weatherman is always wrong. Pundits have taken the place of journalists and people latch onto those who speak directly to their fears. Somehow, journalists must reestablish journalism as a career of record, as something that people can believe in. Nothing should be certain except death, taxes and journalism as fact.
reading joelle's comment made me wonder whether the ease with which we know access information (including news) doesn't devalue that information. if it's easy to acquire, then isn't kind of common or ordinary?
pierce raises an interesting point toward the end of his comment when he says opinion or punditry has replaced newsgathering as the major function of the press. this is perhaps less true of print than of television, where ideology and demagoguery are being peddled as objective news.
what happens when jon stewart becomes the most trusted newscaster in america, or fox becomes the most watched news network?
Well, it certainly isn't the commodity it once was. With it being accessible any time, anywhere, by anyone it definitely may be a lot less important to some people that they read a story immediately, as they can (intend) to return to it later if they're short on time (whether or not they remember to is a different story). At the same time, because news is available 24/7 from so many outlets we see many major stories continue to resurface day after day (if not hour after hour, or sooner). In my experience, especially for my generation, if something is in your face non-stop (such as stories about the BP Oil Spill over the past month or so) we tend to tune it out entirely, or at least lose interest in it over time, until we are tuning it out. In that case, we look more towards the entertaining articles and features because we're "sick of hearing about BP every time I open the internet, man".
I agree that the media is moving swiftly into a new age where things will change rapidly. The way people receive their information will be new every few years, even months and difficulties lay ahead for ever changing media outlets.
I do, however, believe that the biggest issue facing the media these days is the corporation of media. The marrying of business and media outlets, especially hard news ones, creates a conflict of interest for those involved. Many journalists wish to maintain their integrity, but may feel conflicted as to how they can talk about real issues and current events while still selling papers or ad space. Keeping the public's attention has become priority number one for most publications and quality of information is lacking.
I believe the biggest issue facing the American Press is proving that it is still a viable and valuable source of information. Whether it is just a product of the new generation, or something that the press did to themselves, it seems to me that people feel the American press and media has lost it's integrity. No news source is "the news source" because of one reason or another. Also, we brought up the issue of entertainment become more newsworthy than what is really important.
In response to Good's argument of Horses, I do believe that news itself may never go away entirely, and may make a comeback once we realize that the current situation needs to change. It may not be as efficient, but the trend seems to be that the more "efficient" we make something, the more shortcuts we allow ourselves to make. It just seems to me that when there were less efficient means of communication and travel, they were treated with more respect and were more precious. And because of that they took themselves very seriously.
May be we have just taken the press for granted because it is so easy for us to obtain everything nowadays.
The problem facing the American press today is the speed at which society accesses the news and the abundance of ways available to access news. I think society is offered many ways to access media, and in turn they become surrounded with news. With the news so accessible, headlines need to catch attention and be ever changing. The press is forced to change its role as informer to entertainer. I believe information has become such a source of entertainment and distraction that the press has devolved to suit the society’s needs.
People are fascinated with light superficial news because it is more entertaining than hard news. With the constant availability of instant gratification with technology, people have developed a shorter attention span and press has also had to adapt in that aspect. News stories have become shorter and are constantly updating. People are able to access news across the world practically as it occurs. If the press could be able to catch people’s attention without running the story dry perhaps people will begin to once see the press as a source of information and integrity instead of a form of entertainment.
I think that the biggest issue facing the American press today is how to evolve with the times, and determine what exactly their purpose has become.
Clearly media and technology are on the way up, while the printed word is slowly dying out. Times are changing and the press is attempting to redefine their niche.
It used to be delivering news to the public, which was fairly black and white. Now, however, with so many outlets to get news from, so many different types of news to choose from, and so many gadgets to receive the news on, the press must figure out how to adapt to the new age.
If fish were able to climb out of the water, grow lungs and start walking, then surely the press will be able to find their new niche.
Because, to me at least, it seems clear that the press plays an entirely new and different role from what the definition of the press might currently read.
I think the biggest issue facing the press today is the challenge of audience. What people think is important is not always what they will attend to. Most people realize that the oil spill is more important than what a celebrity wore to a certain event, but that doesn’t mean they are going to choose a link to an article about the oil spill over the celebrity gossip. The press relays all sorts of information, but when it comes to the big stuff, how much detail are we actually getting? There is so much information left out, while seemingly meaningless information becomes widespread. The press is still an industry, and in any industry money is a top priority. What is the press to do when the seemingly meaningless stuff is what people want to know, but not necessarily what they should know?
I am going to have to agree with Dan and say that the biggest problem facing the press in America today is change and progression of technology. Traditional forms of media such as newspapers and television are becoming a significantly less popular way for people, especially young adults, to receive news and entertainment. Instead, we are using the Internet as a more readily available and convenient medium to obtain news. All major news publications have websites and it seems like bloggers have become the journalists of the future. Many blog are rubbish but there are many that come from reliable sources.
As we discovered in class, as the template of news has changed the way we read it changes as well. Reading an article for anything over a few paragraphs has become daunting and tiresome. Due to the advances in technology we are presented with more information than we know what to do with. Technology has created somewhat of an ADD nation where readers can barely devote their full attention to a story or article. In order to come up with a solution, the press needs to wrestle with these issues.
I am going to have to agree with Dan and say that the biggest problem facing the press in America today is change and progression of technology. Traditional forms of media such as newspapers and television are becoming a significantly less popular way for people, especially young adults, to receive news and entertainment. Instead, we are using the Internet as a more readily available and convenient medium to obtain news. All major news publications have websites and it seems like bloggers have become the journalists of the future. Many blog are rubbish but there are many that come from reliable sources.
As we discovered in class, as the template of news has changed the way we read it changes as well. Reading an article for anything over a few paragraphs has become daunting and tiresome. Due to the advances in technology we are presented with more information than we know what to do with. Technology has created somewhat of an ADD nation where readers can barely devote their full attention to a story or article. In order to come up with a solution, the press needs to wrestle with these issues.
I believe that the biggest issue facing the American press today is the fact that there is no media outlet where one can get unbiased news and find the absolute truth. Each newspaper or different source one goes to obtain their information each may portray a different outlook on either the same or different issue that is going on throughout the world. As a result, it is hard to fully understand and acquire the most truthful knowledge without finding biases. The New York Times being one of the more liberal, left wing newspapers, the New York Post being more republican, the Wall Street Journal which seems to stay more neutral, and Fox news which displays more right wing ideas. However, there are those few papers which are hard to decide if they are leaning towards one specific side.
I also agree with the previous posts of how the advancement of technology has taken a toll on the American Press. With the creation of all these new forms of obtaining news and information it is easier for people to choose what they are interested in and only read that. Todays generation is all about the new technology and having the “newest” thing. Because of this, people in todays generation are not buying a newspaper and reading about current world problems and educating themselves about what is really important in the world. Instead, they are scrolling through their I-Phone or the internet and educating themselves on what they find to the be the most interesting, the shortest to read, or something that they can relate with.
The biggest problem facing the American press today is the conflict between what the public should be aware of versus what people want to know and hear about. Within that conflict lies the problem of whom is in charge of determining what is "newsworthy" and what is not.
The fact that the "press" cannot be defined is a huge problem. There used to be a clear line between "news" and “entertainment". Now they are overlapping because of the rapid pace of information flow and people's desire to constantly be informed on everything whether it is information or gossip.
I liked the comparison Professor Good made about the change in technology being similar to cars taking over the role of horses. However I think there is a small difference. Despite the transition from horses to cars, the result maintained to original purpose. The advanced technology that we have today gives more options than you would have if you just received news on the television or from the newspaper a few years ago. Now, our technology has given us access not only to information through these new technologies, but to games, gossip, etc that do not exactly serve the purpose of expanding our knowledge.
Our generation seems to have a grasp on balancing the utilization of these technologies for pure entertainment and being a useful tool to write papers, make spreadsheets, etc. However, younger generations are being handed electronics as simply toys. I am not sure that as they grow up they will use these technologies and appreciate them as we do know for the purpose of accessing information and expanding our knowledge. That will be a huge problem for the "press" if within years the younger generations don't have as much of an interest.
In today’s world the biggest issue that faces the American press is the lack of important news being directed towards the public. Everyone today seems to be distracted with all the technological forms of media whether it’s the internet, TV, DVR, ipod, iphone, blackberry or kindle. There has been a major change within the last twenty years from when I was a child to now as a young adult. Remembering from my childhood, kids still played outside and used their imagination whether it was playing with their action figures in their den or running through the house with fake toy guns playing cops and robbers. Today, I notice that children will carry around an electronic device (video game) and click away at the buttons. You can even apply the clicking noise to my age group whenever people are texting each other. Although it seems that everyone is receiving news in some fashion, it’s usually not the best kind of news. Its news about celebrities new relationships or who’s getting married, engaged, so on and so forth. It’s difficult to really pay attention to the important things like a plane crash or what is really happening in the Middle East. The entertaining factor of today’s media appears to overly influence the minds of the youth instead of showing people what really is going on. The importance of news is going in a downward spiral and if nothing is done to change it then the public may never know what is happening throughout the world.
The core problem is less the technological advancements of our age, but rather, the over-saturation of the news media, and the ease of "making news" the new technology brings.
For instance, when there were only a handful of news networks, things that were important-- or rather what the networks thought were important-- were presented and everyone had to pay attention to that situation, because there wasn't anything else going on at the time. Now, if I go on HuffPo, and I don't like whatever they're covering (their current main headline is something about Facebook censoring ads for a pot legalization campaign), I can head over to the New York Times website and read about how low mortgages are in the US.
Sure this may seem like a positive thing, but when there's so much to look at and to peruse, there's very little chance that I'll ever become significantly better informed about the topic. It's a sort of "Jack of all trades master of nothing" type situation.
Oddly enough, the opposite effect also happens due to the over saturated news. I no longer wish to read one more article/watch one more report about Park 51 simply it's been covered ad nauseum by nearly every media outlet. I've essentially stopped caring.
On top of that, it's so easy for anyone to "make news" (start a blog, do a podcast, etc.) that it's become nearly impossible to find one legitimate and credible source for news.
I believe the biggest issue facing the American press today would be keeping the publics interest and accurately giving all the facts. People are used to movies and internet so much so that the public thrives on action. This makes it increasingly hard for reporters to keep the flippant interests of the public while accurately presenting facts. This could make it possible for many important points to be left out causing the story to skew into a completely different direction. It is hard to get both sides all of the time especially if you are working for someone is pushing for one direction.
America is now an information filled country but little of that can be turned into knowledge. There is news coming at you from phones, radio, television, and especially internet, and half the time no one can tell what is respectable. For example some are claiming that the war in Iraq is over whereas soldiers are still facing many problems.
I am going to have to agree with a few people in believing that the biggest issue facing the press today would have to be not only keeping up with the rapid progression of technology, but keeping up with societal trends as well. I believe someone mentioned in class that the press is highly influential in deciding what’s popular and what’s not popular in society, instead of the other way around. Due to the fact that many people pay so much attention to what’s happening in the entertainment world or the latest technological trend, the press has power seeing as they can provide that information. This relates to Professor Good’s chicken and egg analogy, as it blurs the line between individuals deciding their wants and interests or the press deciding it for them.
What I’m trying to say is that the biggest issue facing the press is its extreme influence on the American public and knowing what to do with it. At a time when the nation is in a state of economic despair, it might be wise to use that influence to transform America’s obsession with celebrities and entertainment into a desire to be educated on financial issues and helping the economy.
Although there are many problems facing American press today I feel a huge issue is the lack of using the media to really help people who are need. Honestly I’m not sure if this is what I think the BIGGEST problem is but I wanted to express my feelings about one problem that I think is prevalent and not repetitive of other comments.
I understand that when a tragedy like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, or the earthquake in Haiti happens that the press is going to exploit these stories, but I feel that the press should do a little bit more. Instead of just hyping up a story for the week it happens I think that the press should be more willing to help these causes and try and be a real hero. I know that this sounds far fetched and I know people will argue that “its not the press’s job to help victims just to tell their stories” but I think this can change. I think that if American press was more caring about the society in which they report on and not just about getting the best story then there would be more trust in the authorities at the press’s in America.
I’m not saying that news casters and reporters should be having bake sales, but instead should tell viewers and readers where they can help people in need. If this one step changes then there would be more trust built between the press and the people. There has to be a happy medium between reporting news in a timely fashion while still being a helpful member of society and actually stepping up to use the power of the press for good not just bad.
I don't honestly know if the issues with the press are the press's own fault. American culture is based solely around the latest trends, fads and teen pop sensations. The press sometimes focuses on these stories more than anything political or religious because that is what they believe most Americans want to read about.
The press also has a lot of control over what we think we "want" to read about. Society may give in and purchase the tabloids, watch all the reality shows and possibly live vicariously through our favorite celebrities, but the press feeds our fire. Let's say the only stories we were surrounded by were ones regarding less trendy topics and ones with more substantial information, we would be forced to read them. I think the press has a lot of power and they definitely don't use it in order to help anyone. Generating all the fluff is enabling us to give in and forget about any other news that exists in our world.
Obviously if the media did all of a sudden switch everything on our world, some people would easily still pay more than enough attention to the trends. I just think it would be a breath of fresh air to see something different plastered on the cover of every magazine instead of Snookie and her guidettes.
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