I feel the need to rant about the media. Before I do, I started to wonder tonight what Peter Jennings would say about the media today if he was alive.
The only anchor I trust is Brian Williams. He is genuine and he seems to care about the profession enough to expect a certain level of quality and professionalism.
I have always thought that the media needs to remain unbiased. There was a shift after the whole Yellow Journalism deal back at the turn of the 20th century that spawned a war. The media is supposed to present the facts and allow people to make up their minds based on the information presented. Now everything is skewed one way or another (more on this in a future post). Cable news networks all have agendas to push, which impacts the way they report the news.
I used to respect CNN. Now I am wary of it. They lost my respect after they aired Blackfish, which is not a documentary but a piece of propaganda, and started a movement that isn’t based on fact. Regardless of how I feel about Blackfish (and let it be known that there are some things I agree with), the problem is that there are far worse things happening to animals regularly and yet CNN doesn’t bother covering any of it. Instead, they air Anthony Bourdain’s food show. A 24-hour cable news network should not have shows. They need to report news. (Same goes to you, other cable news networks)
I don’t think Peter Jennings would approve of the current state of the media. It would be fascinating to know what he thinks of it.
This rant will continue tomorrow…
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