INDCJournal: CBS Takes Another Crack

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December 10, 2004

CBS Takes Another Crack

Posted by Bill

Ace makes some great points as he tackles the latest cliched MSM swipe at bloggers. I'll let him do the dirty work:

Time and time again, the mainstream media gets things flat-out wrong, or at least very distorted, by deliberately leaving out critical information that would make the audience better informed but which would hurt the "story" -- not the facts, mind you, but the "story" -- by making it more ambiguous, less emphatic, less sexy.
...
As they say, every profession is a conspiracy against the layman. And in this instance, the conspiracy is, as usual, the credentialed professionals protecting themselves by employing a fairly flexible standard as far as their own accuracy and credibility.

But for those outside the profession -- for those not on a major-media outlet's payroll -- the standard seems to be quite a bit more strict, doesn't it? We get most of this stuff right doesn't seem to apply to us.

(Emphasis mine)

While partisanship is a huge font of bias in the mainstream media, I maintain that the desire for simplistic, dramatically tense, ironic and sensationalistic narratives is an even larger problem. And reporters regularly shoehorn selective facts to fit a desired narrative with no consequence except a regular paycheck and perhaps a raise. Even CBS's egregiously biased and malicious airing of a partially fraudelent, incomplete story has thus far gone more than three months without any professional responsibility, and went nearly two weeks without even basic acknowledgement that the documents may have been fakes.

In contrast, blogger mistakes and fact checking take place at lightning speed. If the mainstream media could somehow combine their vast resources with actual enforcement of their cobwebbed professional standards and the pressure for accountability inherent in open source journalism, the end product would be improved exponentially.

And people like me might even be put out of a ... hobby. After all, what would we have to bitch about? Perhaps I could collect stamps, or maybe start snapping up those adorable hummel figurines. Or learn how to bake. Mentor a child. The possibilities are endless.

UPDATE: Say Anything has more:

For every right-leaning blog advocating one point of view there is another blog advocating an opposite perspective. In that respect blogs are self-regulating. When a blogger posts inaccurate information other bloggers and readers can give immediate feedback through linking, commenting and email.

And this sort of peer-regulation has begun to effect the �old media� already which is exactly why CBS is writing this sour-grapes diatribe. Bloggers already take on journalists when they get the facts wrong in their stories or columns. Some journalists have begun to embrace this sort of review and are the better for it. Some are resisting, where it be out of misplaced pride, partisan hackery or even a sentimental feeling for the status quo. Whatever.

Posted by Bill at December 10, 2004 09:34 AM | TrackBack (3)

Comments

This is why I do not honestly believe the media is completely in bed with the Democrats. I think they both use the same tactics and have the same goals, that's all.

In order for the media to stay in business, they have to look 'sexy'. The stories have to rely on emotions more than facts because facts are boring and boring doesn't sell. One kid gets hurt on a teeter totter and the evening news can do a whole expose on the dangers of playgrounds. It's not factually true (we had lead painted metal swings when I was a kid. I'm fine) but the story sells.

Liberals act along the same lines. It 'feels' a certain way so you have to sell the feeling, facts and logic be damned. It's hard to sell a program that nobody wants to pay for unless you throw in 2 homeless people and a drug addled prostitute. 3 people's pain can be sold over hundred's of thousands of other's inconvenience.

Posted by: Sharp as a Marble at December 10, 2004 11:17 AM

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. 1st off blogs do not pass themselves off as news.
When people go to blogs, they are looking for an "opinion" of someone. Anyone who takea a blog for face value, w/o scrutinizing the facts themselves is a moron. Thats why all the credible blogs link to the story that they are commenting on. As most bloggers are usually on the intllectual side of things, they usually expect someone to disagree with them.

News orginazations are there to report news. Not opinion. If I want opinion, I'll read the comments, blogs, or things that I know im getting someones opinion.

Whenever I read a news story or see it, if i sense a little bit of opinion spewing from the facts, I become SUPER critical of the article just so that I don't re-gurgitate that persons opinion.

Maybe the news orgs or associations should require testing and stuff for reporters to get some kind of designation as a reporter of news (ie NR = news reporter). Make it simpler to sift through the BS to find a good article. Let people w/o the designation write, but people will know that maybe this story isn't as true as it sounds.

Keep Govt out of it though, they always screw things up. Let the system regulate itself. If a reporter does screw up, have small punishments do the desgination. If it is a major screw up (ie Dan Rather) remove thier designation and move on. watch as their carreer dwindles down the tubes. Maybe they'l make it as Bloggers (yeah right).

As far as the article goes about bloggers having allegiances to campaigns and such. WHO CARES. If you can't tell someone's allegiances by the comments they make, then apprantly their alegiances aren't affecting their writng too much anyways. With opinion, you have the right to disagree. Lucky we live in America where we can disagree.

Posted by: Big Mac w/ an Egg at December 10, 2004 04:36 PM

*Shakes head*

Speaking as a farmer's son now, all animals and most humans, when they touch an electrified stock fence wire, jump, shout, and say a fair number of ugly words but they don't touch that wire again.

The boys at CBS, however, seem to have a FASCINATION with that wire. They keep going back for more, maybe to see if it's charged THIS time, too.

Posted by: Orion at December 10, 2004 05:39 PM

As I've told my kids and anyone else who would listen. "Like any manufacturer a newspaper or TV news program will put into his product the things that he thinks will sell the product and nothing else. Remember that when you read or hear a bit of news that is forsale."

Posted by: Mugford at December 11, 2004 05:03 PM