Tuesday, August 09, 2016

John Oliver's take on the state of journalism is perhaps one of the most depressing episodes yet.

And you know the real problem is that there is no simple solution to the problem of newspapers losing revenue and cutting back drastically or closing up shop altogether.

As a political blogger I really worry about losing access to good local journalists, who have the time and resources to cover stories that I simply cannot cover.

Without newspapers, even the online version, political corruption and criminal activities can go on relatively unchecked.

29 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:17 PM

    A political blogger, damn you made me laugh out loud! Cut and paste extreme!y biased blogger is more like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:06 PM

      Yet here you are every day, @5:17.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous5:30 PM

    There is no more investigative journalism. Julian Assange is considered a traitor today while he merely is doing what the 5th column is supposed to do. The press enabled Iraq war and will put its wet finger in the air and decide what to report... Local news is still thriving and is the last hope ..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kathy in KY6:12 PM

      I hope you meant the Fourth Estate (i.e. the press), not the Fifth Column (i.e. traitors).

      There is plenty of investigative journalism still out there, although it is threatened everywhere by the precarious finances of print newspapers. And a good thing too -- when journalists stop investigating, democracy has a hard time.

      Delete
    2. Ummm, that's 5th Estate, not 5th Column.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous9:36 PM

      4th Estate.

      Fourth Estate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Estate
      Wikipedia
      "Fourth Estate" most commonly refers to the news media, especially print journalism or "the press". Thomas Carlyle attributed the origin of the term to Edmund Burke, who used it in a parliamentary debate in 1787 on the opening up of press reporting of the House of Commons of Great Britain.

      dowl

      Delete
  3. Anonymous5:32 PM

    Growing up in South Georgia, my dad subscribed to 7 newspapers. The Atlanta Journal, the Atlanta Constitution (they were separate then), the Florida Times Union, plus 1 daily local and 1 biweekly local. Oh, and the Wall St. Journal on weekends. I love the feel and the ink of newspapers. But that was when news was news and not emotion.
    GeorgiaPeach

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:01 PM

      That was 6, I can't count. :)
      GeorgiaPeach

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:54 PM

      And here you are on a liberal emotion blog.

      Think about it.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous3:55 AM

      9:54 PM - Gee, and so are you!
      Think about it.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous5:34 PM

    Gryphen

    Pl page The Quitter, Paul Ryan won wisconsin primary
    90 to 10 LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:03 PM

      Bristol: "Fuck you mom for giving $5000 of PAC money to that loser Paul Nehlen. He just lost to Ryan by 80 points. Willow and I could have used that money for another Hawaii vacation"

      Delete
  5. Anonymous5:42 PM

    OT Daily Mail has not had a Bristol and Dakota story in more than seven days.

    Were they eaten by a bear or are they lost in the woods?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:59 PM

      Do you ever stay on the fucking topic?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:16 PM

      It's a little more than ironic that you mention the Daily Mail in a comment on a post about the demise of serious journalism.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous6:30 PM

      Don't give a shit!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous6:47 PM

      Good one, 6:16 PM!

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous6:32 PM

    Fifty nine years old next month, Gryph, there used to be this thing called "power of the press." It, sadly, is no more.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous7:07 PM

    O/T - "WISCONSIN: Paul Ryan TROUNCES Primary Opponent Backed By Breitbart, Sarah Palin, Far-Right Extremists"

    Wasilla's empty noggin' is even more irrelevant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:34 PM

      WE the people are certainly giving Sarah Palin a big middle finger a lot lately.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous7:24 PM

    Gryph, could we please have an insider's update on the state of play of the reelection of Yon Dung and Lisa Murkowski, write-in candidate?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:39 PM

      Regarding insider views on Alaska politics Casey Reynold's blog is a good source.

      http://midnightsunak.com

      He, like most Alaskans and Alaskan pollsters and insiders feel that Murkowski is a shoe-in against her Independent challenger Margaret Stock and even though he hasn't really weighed in on Young yet, most political pundits in AK see Steve Lindbeck as a strong Democratic challenger but not strong enough.

      He's well known and well liked in AK but has no political experience, although he did raise more money than Young this last reporting period, Young has not been aggressively fundraising, he never does.

      Many people mention that Young only won his last election with 51% of the vote and see Lindbeck as a serious threat to re-election but the majority of Alaskan political watchers think he will be re-elected just because he's the "known" candidate and there is the perception, even if it is no longer true, that he is a powerful force in DC and "brings home the bacon" for Alaska.

      Bush/Rural Alaska will vote overwhelmingly for Lisa Murkowski and Don Young; they have both created the impression that they care about the bush communities much more than the "other guy" and to her credit Lisa does a great deal for Alaska Natives and American Indians through her committee memberships.

      Not really an "Insider" but I know a lot of people who are and who spend even more time than I do following AK politics, but I've worked on a few campaigns up here and have a pretty good feel for how things tend to go.

      Do follow Casey's blog though, he does a good job with AK politics, it's on Gryphen's sidebar.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous7:30 PM

    Watching a PBS documentary on JFK. They mentioned the unspoken agreement with the press to keep his constant philandering quiet. I am sure throughout the 20th century our press held back information and pushed a false narrative on many topics that were considered 'national security issues'. I think we look back to a "Mayberry" America that probably never really existed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:12 PM

      Mayberry America never existed for those who were not middle-class and/or who were nonwhite. This is why it is unsettling after the election of our current POTUS and his swearing in January 2009, the rallying cry of the teapeople 'take our country back' felt so overtly racist and made no sense.

      Back to where? Prior to the 1950s where women and nonwhites, particularly American blacks, knew their places and stayed in them?

      dowl

      Delete
  11. Anonymous7:39 PM

    http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-ryan-primary-results-nehlen-2016-8

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous7:53 PM

    I thought the skit in John Olivers skit was funny. I remember when the Today show had to start dumbing it down and Matt Lauer had to suck it up and talk about this Fall's fashions. Sad but true. Will we ever go back to the Mike Wallace and David Brinkley days? No. Our technology is kinda doing us in on that matter. And there are younger people being trained on how to receive the news. Kinda like Trump who gets everything he knows on the internet.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous1:55 AM

    Yesterday I read about Trump calling for Clinton's assassination on "emotion" (ha) blogs. The mainstream media ignored it. PBS Newshour ignored it. The man was caught on film calling for his opponent to be killed, and the media wouldn't touch it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous4:19 AM

    Sometimes I think and ponder...books are gone, journalism is gone except for internet...what happens when the grid goes down or is manipulated down?
    See, this is why I believe we are some alien race's ant farm.

    ReplyDelete

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