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shakran · 01-04-2006, 05:10 PM

This thread:

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=99474

is a great example of what's wrong with society and their demands of the media. Instead of demanding that we cover news, they're demanding that we be psychic. The only way to get info about the miners was to talk to the mining company. Reporters could not physically get to the miners. They had to go on what they were being told. And the company, by the way, was only repeating what they heard on the radio from the guys down trying to get to the miners.

Unfortunate? Yes, absolutely. The media's fault? I fail to see how they could have done any better.

But TFP users like Crow Daw couldn't wait to jump on the media.

Now here's where it gets fun. If the miners HAD been found alive and the media had sat on it (unnecessarilly) there'd have been hoardes of people jumping down our collective throats for not reporting it. So basically this was a no-win scenario.

Now don't get me wrong. People always have stupid complaints about the media. 99% of the complaints we get at my station involve the weatherman's tie or how much of a bastard the sports director is for not covering Little Johnny's peewee football game. People almost never criticise us on what we need to be criticised on (why the hell aren't you exposing the ethanol industry for the scam it is? Why do you always wait for some official or group to bring up a problem before you tell us about it?) - instead they'd rather criticise us on stupid crap like that. So I'm used to the ill-informed criticism of the type in that mining thread.

But what irritates me is that people are such friggin' sheep about it. Everyone picks on lawyers because it's cool to pick on lawyers - everyone else is doing it so I'll be more accepted if I do it. So I'll poke fun at the lawyers to fit in - until, that is, I need one.

It's the same thing with journalists. We as a group deserve a LOT of criticism, but instead of criticising us right, the public criticises us for being "media jackals, media scum, pain-in-the-ass reporters" etc. It'd be too HARD to criticise us on what we need to be criticised on because that would take some thinking, so instead we'll parrot what our friends and the people we think are cool say.

So, instead of effecting real change, people are just shouting to hear themselves shout. That's not a real good way of securing a good journalism system.

01-04-2006, 05:10 PM	#82 (permalink)
shakran Tone.	This thread: http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=99474 is a great example of what's wrong with society and their demands of the media. Instead of demanding that we cover news, they're demanding that we be psychic. The only way to get info about the miners was to talk to the mining company. Reporters could not physically get to the miners. They had to go on what they were being told. And the company, by the way, was only repeating what they heard on the radio from the guys down trying to get to the miners. Unfortunate? Yes, absolutely. The media's fault? I fail to see how they could have done any better. But TFP users like Crow Daw couldn't wait to jump on the media. Now here's where it gets fun. If the miners HAD been found alive and the media had sat on it (unnecessarilly) there'd have been hoardes of people jumping down our collective throats for not reporting it. So basically this was a no-win scenario. Now don't get me wrong. People always have stupid complaints about the media. 99% of the complaints we get at my station involve the weatherman's tie or how much of a bastard the sports director is for not covering Little Johnny's peewee football game. People almost never criticise us on what we need to be criticised on (why the hell aren't you exposing the ethanol industry for the scam it is? Why do you always wait for some official or group to bring up a problem before you tell us about it?) - instead they'd rather criticise us on stupid crap like that. So I'm used to the ill-informed criticism of the type in that mining thread. But what irritates me is that people are such friggin' sheep about it. Everyone picks on lawyers because it's cool to pick on lawyers - everyone else is doing it so I'll be more accepted if I do it. So I'll poke fun at the lawyers to fit in - until, that is, I need one. It's the same thing with journalists. We as a group deserve a LOT of criticism, but instead of criticising us right, the public criticises us for being "media jackals, media scum, pain-in-the-ass reporters" etc. It'd be too HARD to criticise us on what we need to be criticised on because that would take some thinking, so instead we'll parrot what our friends and the people we think are cool say. So, instead of effecting real change, people are just shouting to hear themselves shout. That's not a real good way of securing a good journalism system.