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27 Feb 08 - 04:26 PM (#2274041) Subject: BS: Media (Global ) exposed in new book From: autolycus Recommended read about the state of the mass media - Flat Earth News by Nick Davies, just published in UK. Early sample "Ignorance is the root of media failure. Most of the time, most journalists do not know what they are talking about." I'd only been thinking lately, in effect, 'who guards the guardians?' We know where to look for critical examinations of almost every human activity. But where can we go for a deep probing of the media? Not the mass media, by definition. So next time you're tempted to give a hyperlink to a newspaper, broadcasting station, or mass-circulation magazine, think a few times first. Ivor |
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27 Feb 08 - 04:41 PM (#2274055) Subject: RE: BS: Media (Global ) exposed in new book From: Gervase Most of the time, most journalists do not know what they are talking about Hmm. Nick Davies is a journalist and a master of the hyperbolic, non-attributed assertion. The 'jack of all trades, master of none,' has always been a requirement for a general news reporter. On the other hand, most specialist journalists know a lot more than the general public on the subjects about which they write. Nearly all science writers will have at least a science degree, arts writers tend to have a background in the arts...and by the very nature of the trade all specialist writers are exposed to the current thinking in their particular area to a far higher degree than Joe public. From what I've read of Davies' book (and I haven't read it in its entirety) he has a few valid points to make, but is very wide of the mark on others. Certainly, unless journalism has undergone a seismic change in the past eight years, he doesn't describe any newsroom I've ever worked in or run. |
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27 Feb 08 - 04:49 PM (#2274065) Subject: RE: BS: Media (Global ) exposed in new book From: Wesley S A friend of mine is a political science professor at the local University. He says that often when he's interviewed by local TV stations they will ask him just before the interview - "So what questions should I ask you?" |
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28 Feb 08 - 02:30 PM (#2274997) Subject: RE: BS: Media (Global ) exposed in new book From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh For the other side of that particular coin, how about this very minor story: about twenty years ago, a new Museum opened in a Scottish city, and some weeks later the professor of History of Art in one of the Universities there was interviwed (on radio) about it. The thing is, the day before that interview he had asked us, his students, if anyone had been there, since he had this interview scheduled for the morrow. Anyway, that ecvening I saw him walking away from the University Bookshop with a copy of the Guide to that collection: "going to the B----- Collection, then?" I asked. But there's more; another studnet worked in that Bookshop, and told me later that he had taken the book "on approval" to purchase - and had duly returned it the next afternoon. Mean, or what? |
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07 Apr 08 - 01:52 PM (#2309276) Subject: RE: BS: Media (Global ) exposed in new book From: Amos The suppression of news concerning "Winter Soldier" is a national scandal. One that will not be carried on the news. A |