Journalism is easily one of the most self-critical professions there is. There are entire publications and non-profits dedicated solely to critiquing news coverage. CJR and AJR are great examples.
I am not surprised that you appear to be unaware of this as media illiteracy is the norm for most citizens.
Additionally, who else would we even want to criticize news coverage apart from an expert who understands all of the nuts and bolts of how the industry works?
Simply being a consumer of news doesn’t make you an expert in journalism any more than consuming medical care makes you a doctor.
In my experience the vast majority of people who have no formal training, or have never worked in mass communications tend to labor under a huge set of misconceptions about how the news industry operates and what really goes on in news rooms. People honestly have no clue and tend towards being confidently and even disastrously incorrect.
You only have to look at Murdoch to understand how the media works. It is not a profession for the public interest anymore; it is there only to serve the people who own them.
Nobody cares “how it works” and “what really goes on”. They care about the outcomes.
And the outcomes are a festering pile of half-truths sculpted to meet a pre-defined narrative.
If I open up any news site anywhere in the world and read what it has to say on subjects I know something about, it takes little to no time to start racking up a large count of egregious errors of fact. And note here: errors of fact, not simplifications, etc. Outright incorrect information.
So when I extrapolate my findings in my own areas of expertise into the areas I lack expertise in, I have zero confidence that what I’m being told is correct or truthful.
So it doesn’t matter how things work. It doesn’t matter what really goes on. Whatever goes on and however it works, the output is factually incorrect and narrative-furthering. Apparently being “one of the most self-critical professions there is” isn’t helping.
Time to change how things work and what goes on, no?
Journalism is easily one of the most self-critical professions there is. There are entire publications and non-profits dedicated solely to critiquing news coverage. CJR and AJR are great examples.
I am not surprised that you appear to be unaware of this as media illiteracy is the norm for most citizens.
Additionally, who else would we even want to criticize news coverage apart from an expert who understands all of the nuts and bolts of how the industry works?
Simply being a consumer of news doesn’t make you an expert in journalism any more than consuming medical care makes you a doctor.
In my experience the vast majority of people who have no formal training, or have never worked in mass communications tend to labor under a huge set of misconceptions about how the news industry operates and what really goes on in news rooms. People honestly have no clue and tend towards being confidently and even disastrously incorrect.
You only have to look at Murdoch to understand how the media works. It is not a profession for the public interest anymore; it is there only to serve the people who own them.
Nobody cares “how it works” and “what really goes on”. They care about the outcomes.
And the outcomes are a festering pile of half-truths sculpted to meet a pre-defined narrative.
If I open up any news site anywhere in the world and read what it has to say on subjects I know something about, it takes little to no time to start racking up a large count of egregious errors of fact. And note here: errors of fact, not simplifications, etc. Outright incorrect information.
So when I extrapolate my findings in my own areas of expertise into the areas I lack expertise in, I have zero confidence that what I’m being told is correct or truthful.
So it doesn’t matter how things work. It doesn’t matter what really goes on. Whatever goes on and however it works, the output is factually incorrect and narrative-furthering. Apparently being “one of the most self-critical professions there is” isn’t helping.
Time to change how things work and what goes on, no?
The public also doesn’t understand the nature of op-eds apparently.