The State of Journalism

A report from Pew today, State of The News Media (Slate), highlights the sorry state of contemporary journalism. Among its troubling findings, they note that for the first time since 1978, fewer than 40,000 people are working staff jobs in newsrooms (a 30 percent drop from 2000). But maybe more disturbing is the dramatic downward trend in news reporting in relation to opinion. Overall, 63 percent of cable news airtime is now devoted to opinion and commentary. At CNN, the best in this regard, airtime to reported packages dropped nearly in half since 2007 -- though it remains the only cable news channel devoting more time to reporting (54 percent) than opinion (46 percent). Both Fox and MSNBC fall below the 50 percent threshold. Regarding local news, 40 percent of airtime is devoted to sports, traffic, or weather (up from 32 percent in 2005). 

For many years, media critics have noted the he said/she said nature of reporting on television and in newspapers, but apparently there is a new problem. The he and she are now the pundits themselves, making the news without any recourse to what's actually happening out there. In fact, a Pew Research Center analysis found that campaign reporters are acting primarily as megaphones rather than investigators these days -- putting forward the candidates and political partisan party lines without much critique or even fact checking. And Forbes and other media outlets now use technology that produces content without any human intervention. This may be good for the bottom line, but it is certainly not good for democracy.

It is hard to fathom a reporter today taking down a President, as Woodward and Bernstein did almost 40 years ago, for anything other than a sex scandal. The reporters have simply become part of the establishment, working for huge media conglomerates that are primarily interested in the bottom line over quality and have found themselves increasingly aligned with the interests of the elites and big business (since they themselves fit both monikers). While anyone can be a pundit today, and some online pundits have gained considerable readership, the mainstream media has essentially abandoned its role as a safeguard of the people against excessive governmental or private power. This leaves people in the position of trying to struggle through the miasmic cloud to find the truth, necessary to make informed decisions. But for many, it's just easier to watch, read and listen to those who already agree with what you think -- damn the facts and statistics. And, according to the same study, many have just damned the news outlets they used to depend on (31 percent to be exact). 

News might not be much fun or heartening to keep up with these days, but if we abandon our charge to be informed and educated on the important policies and decisions that affect our lives, we leave it to those who too often chose self-interest over the common good. Let's hope enough alternative media outlets remain to keep those of us who haven't fallen into the grasp of cynicism to keep seeking the truth and struggling for that elusive dream we call democracy.