An Industry Under Fire
FAKE NEWS. One of the most publicized catchphrases of 2017. It was flung from left to right, right to left, even being shot off from the highest political office of the US. No-one was seemingly immune to meddling of Russians, the shilling of MSNBC, the firehouse of garbage from Facebook, or the “reporting” of online blogs that come with no verification, no actual authenticity. How can we trust anything in this day and age?
It truly saddens me that a combination of major factors have coalesced to undermine such an important industry as journalism. I have long held journalism as one of the few domains completely dedicated to the pursuit of truth, more so than subfields of science at times. Journalists were always the champions of free speech that uncovered and held up truth to power. I grew up watching Barbara Walters and Hugh Downs, even staying up late on Sunday school nights to catch the latest 60 minutes. Journalism programs such as this were one of the few places to learn something before the internet age not slathered in drama and misconception.
That’s why it nauseates me to see reports like this -
Come on.
Clickbait Journalism is not Journalism
Things seem to have gotten worse since Time Inc.’s acquisition by partisan bajillionaires. Sad, as Time was a steady stream of eye-opening worldly information for me in my teens.
Another prime example is The Young Turks. I’ll admit here that I followed them for their pro-Bernie rhetoric when (even though I don’t agree with all his methods and overall tone on economic ‘inequality’) Sanders was the only one to champion discussion of college tuition and healthcare. When they started to expand to hire full-time reporters and follow lesser-reported stories like the Keystone Pipeline, I had big hopes for independent online journalism. But these days, TYT is filled with these added gems -
Again, we see the weak knees of news outlets as they fold from high pursuits of journalistic truth and resort to more clicky celebrity gossip and identity politics.
This all highlights a major dilemma of journalism in the modern age. Why would you ever report on conflicts in Sudan or Tibetan secession when you could be making a killing at a fraction of the investment on reactionary videos or the Kardashians? Every day we see Wolf Blitzer reading off tweets by tweens and every night Rachel Maddow sounds more and more like Alex Jones. It’s all becoming a fuzz of hype and hyperbole. And honestly, I can’t decide which political side is doing it worse.
BUT, in an odd perverse shilly way, I’ll add a sliver of silver lining here. I do think this adds another layer of value and motivation for the need of privatized journalism with privatized money - namely cryptocurrency. It’s evident why this journalistic regression is happening and that’s because the modern economy and all the modern media systems existing within it are fueled by clicks and fews. There is no objective value to ‘good journalism’ beyond those marketing metrics. If a separate monetary system, one that divides industry committers from an impressionable youth, were to be put in place, authentic reporting might find a new foundation.
I just realized that I haven’t even addressed why I composed my title in the way I did. Buzzfeed is utter garbage that feeds off of and perpetuates the infantile anxieties of the Western world. And they make tons of money doing it.
Steem on! Not you Buzzfeed.
