The Death of the Fourth Estate

First of all, I have to make it clear that this is not about FOX News, the article I'm citing just happened to be the one that triggered this observation.
Accused of ignoring Haiti, Fox executive ‘attacks’ other networks

Fox, however, appears to have a keen sense of its own viewers' preferences, as indicated by a new poll which finds that Fox is trusted by more Americans than any of the other news networks. Overall, 49% of those polled said they trusted Fox, including 74% of Republicans, while all the other major networks had a higher level of distrust than of trust. "The media landscape has really changed," the president of Public Policy Polling explained. "Now they’re turning more toward the outlets that tell them what they want to hear.

I have always believed that the role of the fourth estate -- the press -- was to act as a watchdog on those in power. We trusted the press because it was not under the sway of those that wielded power -- protection of sources, freedom of speech and the rest. There was a sense of mission among the press that they had a responsibility to the public and to the truth.

From watchdog to lapdog. In the US, where I spend a great deal of my time, the press seems to have given up its traditional role to instead embrace the idea that the only function of the media is to make a profit. So you give people the news that they want to hear and you don't upset them with "bad" stories that might make them not watch the commercials. MSNBC, FOX, and the rest seem to have adopted the business model of identifying a segment of the American population and then structuring the news message content and format so that it is what their demographic wants to believe. Although I have to admit that the propagandists at FOX have refined this into an art form, but MSNBC and others are not far behind.

Truth? Pishaw! Who needs the truth if it's not what the targeted demographic wants to hear.? We must be a good news organization.. look how high our ratings are!

I recall a good friend of mine who was a news reporter at CBC radio many years ago. I invited her to a lunch where an MP was giving a policy speech. She declined explaining that she could not attend any political event unless she were covering it, nor could she vote or join a political party for fear of losing her objectivity. She called the her journalistic discipline and the sacrifice of the press. (And just to head off the obvious argument, she did agree to go back to my place for an intimate dinner for two instead provided I didn't talk politics.)

I compare that with the blatant huckster-ism of FOX news staff like Chris Wallace et al (Shep Smith seems to be a bit more of a real news man) and Ed Shultz on the MSNBC side, and I wonder if the concept of the responsibility fo teh fourth estate even exists any more.

No new world order. No international cabal of Christians/Jews/Muslims/Masons/Reptilians/Communists/Nazis/Smurfs/Bankers (pick one) manipulating the press -- just plain old greed seems to be the cause.

With the sale of the Wall Street Journal to News Corp, All American news seems to be on the way to being either paid political messages or entertainment (I hesitate to call it reality programming even) so I'm getting my news from BBC, TV5, CBC and similar sources.


[edit on 27-1-2010 by metamagic]

[edit on 27-1-2010 by metamagic]