The lowering of standards in the American media

Here is an article by my friend Tom. Thanks Tom for sharing!

The Lowering of Standards in the American Media by Tom Risen

As I woke up today on my way to go to a town hall meeting with the misguided dean of my journalism school (who isn’t a journalist) 90.9 NPR led their report with the following:

“Anna Nicole Smith be buried in the Bahamas…in a custom pink dress and a tiara made by her friends. Our reporter (Jerry Someguy) is live from the airport where Smith’s plane left an hour ago.”

News judgment like this is diluting the already fading standards of the old school journalism. People in Walter Cronkite’s day used to believe everything they heard and saw on the broadcast news since they knew that people like him were no-nonsense and hard hitting. Now some people see broadcast news, which is increasingly filled with entertainment and opinion, as background noise.

“We keep CNN on in the background as white noise and a decoration for the wall of our tiny office,” said Jeff Jagoda, a software engineer in Frederick.

Some people watch FOX News religiously for the same reason, whether they buy into the conservative bias of the network or not. Others have been turned off by becoming suspicious of the political motives of journalists.

This trend of disinterest, distrust, soft news, and opinion is the most visible in broadcast news, but all journalism is facing the same shift.

Michael Nelson, editor of the Kansas City Star, said that the business of journalism today is faced with a shift because of technology. There are many sources of news available and the new generation raised on it expects that information should be free. This means with an abundant supply the job market for journalists is shrinking. Newspaper circulation is shrinking and the future of how to fund and produce quality journalism is being questioned.

This is the problem that concerns John Levine, the new dean of the Medill School of Journalism, who is implementing an approach called Medill 2020 in an attempt to adapt to it.

The founder of the Medill Media Management Center, he is trying to bring Medill into the digital age where its students will be educated in all forms of media tech to get out the news and compete in an uncertain job market. How he plan to do this? Link here to see his ridiculously vague circle presentation that is occupying the budget and curriculum of the school.

The journalism world is making a shift to adapt to endless blogs and the cry for cheap information.

Newspapers like the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune are publishing free newspapers that are given away on the subways of their cities. Such papers like Express in Washington D.C. and the Red Eye in Chicago contain usually contain aggregated news from the Associated Press up front, followed by sports and entertainment news, and have been very successful, especially the hipster Red Eye. The only trouble is, the free newspapers have become more successful than the ones that pay to publish them.

“I love Express since its simple and free,” said Jose Sabalboro, a researcher at the Department of Transportation.

Many people in Chicago and Washington D.C. say that the Red Eye and Express are the only newspapers they read, for some of them it is the only news they follow most days only because it is convenient to them. They also read basic news on endless sources on the Internet which is similarly aggregated from the sources like the AP.

Journalism as a business is going out of its way to not only be entertaining and make news more appealing, but to straight out ask people what they want in their effort to keep their audiences being drawn away by the internet

Radio stations that are being bought out in Washington D.C. have commercials designed to win back audiences from digital media.

“Call us and tell us what kind of radio YOU want to hear,” said advertisements of 104.1 GEORGE FM.

Levine, a former readership analyst, is similarly looking for a way to get the attention of audiences drawn away from traditional news with his new Medill 2020 program. His efforts include like focusing more time on digital media instead of writing, requiring students to by iPods and video cameras, and holding weekly seminars on “engaging young audiences.”

Many Medill students and faculty see these as pandering to a trend which might undermine the school’s traditional reputation. Is this an effort to destroy the village in order to save it? Faculty not to be named here have griped to him about the program. Every time he speaks about it Levine doesn’t seem like he’s listened. Many journalists at Medill fear Levine might not have an exit strategy if his investment doesn’t pan out.