There’s plenty of news these days, and plenty of folks who are willing to bring it to you. I have no problem with that; I consider it a positive thing and a good sign for the future, even when the news is bad. We need to know what’s going on, and even if some of the reporting is fallacious – which it surely is, given the multiplicity of sources – over time the facts will be repeatedly confirmed, whereas the deceits will not.
However, I dislike “reporters” whose principal interest is in listening to themselves talk. Too many of our “new journalists” are in love with the sound of their own voices. Accordingly, they’ll take 30 seconds worth of newsworthy facts and string it out into a ten-minute video – and when I say “string it out,” I mean it in the most pejorative sense. Here’s a “good” example. If you can endure the whole thing, you’re a stouter heart than I.
The essence of good reporting is getting the facts out, clearly and concisely. Nothing else matters to the genuine newsman. He doesn’t indulge in verbal arabesques. He doesn’t pound you about how “you’re hearing this nowhere else.” And he doesn’t put commentary (sometimes fan-danced as “analysis”) ahead of the facts; that’s the sin called “burying the lede.”
Forgive me, Gentle Reader. I had to vent. You may now return to your previously scheduled Sunday morning 5:00 AM activities.
I agree with the meat of what you are saying. But sometimes, as in my case, I have been saying things that noomne else was saying years ago - but now are. I do not like 'shameless self-promotion' but sometimes you just have to do it! Candace Owens is touted as some kind of 'pundit' when she doesn't really know much of anything. I like candace but if Alex Jones would not have given her airtime and the FOX picked her up for some dumb reason - she would not have the audience that she has.
ReplyDeleteit is not Candace's fault here - it is the 'perception' of those who watch/listen to her.
I have been preaching about so much stuff for 30 years!! I guess that I guess that I don't have much 'charisma' - although one-on-one the reaction to my thoughts is very positive.
But yes, in general, what you say is true and the cottage industry of pundits and the like can be fraught with disingenuousness.
We just have to separate the chaff/tares from the wheat!
MOST of the media - new and old - talk too much. They were influenced by the extended time CNN and other networks had to fill, and got out of the "say it concisely" mode that TV had to follow when the news was 1/2 hour or less.
ReplyDeleteSame with too many of the YouTube shows - too long. There should be a new shorthand - TLDL - Too Long, Didn't Listen.
I watched the first two minutes. Did he have a point?
ReplyDelete