Facts & Opinions in Cable Media and the Market Medium
John Stewart’s The Daily Show joked once that news used to be about at least in part about facts, fact checking, and reliability … now they report only the fact that Pundit A has this opinion and Pundit B another. Is the media doing its duty in a democratic society? Forums on this issue have yielded much heat and little light … what one has come to expect from cable news. So I was hoping yosefblog contributors could step up and promote the common good.
I won’t write me feelings so I can write them as a response to what someone else says. This way I the discussion won’t look like a monologue … but I know what Mike will say. He’ll say that we’re stupid to ask if the media is doing its duty before we know what that duty is. The answer to the first question necessarily depends on the second.
March 20th, 2005 at 10:20 am
Is M*A*S*H still syndicated on FOX at 10:00 opposite the network news shows? Cuz I…. I think M*A*S*H does it’s job well.
March 20th, 2005 at 10:26 am
Ok, I reread and saw that you are talking primarily about CABLE news networks. Sorry.
My opinion? Oh, yes, I’d love to. Te;evision is for entertainment, and the “news” is no exception. Proof? Geraldo. The man is an entertainer, not a journalist. So if you’re entertained (doesn’t nessessarily mean you agree, or enjoy, just that you are entertained), then I think Geraldo and his ilk are doing their jobs.
HAVING SAID THAT- even programs which claim to have NO serious intentions, obviously help shape the way we think, whether we like it or not.
PS. if anyone has a DVD set of M*A*S*H, could you send me a copy?
March 20th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
I somewhat agree with dovid….I do see M*A*S*H as doing its job, but I was never a big fan.
And I agree with Matthew as well, Mike would argue that we must first know what the duty is before seeing whether or not it is fulfilled. Dovid is kinda right here because this is what they du. The big name news shows are focused on entertainment now. They’ll be a minute segment about the presidents trip to Ireland and then 20 minutes about the new blockbuster movie coming out this thursday.
But I disagree with this. Although it’s clearly what they du, it’s not their du-ty. I think that news stations have an obligation do give us what they profess to give. I want news gosh darnit. I want to watch this show so I know what is going on in the world, so I can see what’s going on in my own government (without alot of research on my part) and the other big name governments (like CSNBS)
Of course people want to stay informed on natural disasters, major court cases, and scary cases of arson in the chicago-land area, but this constant bombartment with murders, michael jackson, and more murders….I’m not a fan. So being that I’m not a fan, they’re not fulfilling their duty to make me happy.
So no.
March 20th, 2005 at 2:17 pm
Dovid,
If anybody lands up sending you the M*A*S*H* DVD, will you please invite me over for some other reason while you are watching it?
March 21st, 2005 at 9:08 am
So, I’ll summarize:
(1) If news should be entertainment, we should watch M*A*S*H instead … (not that the news is bad at entertaining, but M*A*S*H blows it away).
(2) Currently news is about entertainment, whether or not it should be.
Sound right?
March 21st, 2005 at 3:29 pm
Matt, I haven’t been avidly following the blog as of late, how did you get posting rights? News is mostly about bad depressing stuff. I failed to turn the channel from court tv to ABC while i made/ate my breakfast this morning, and ended up hearing a horrifying tale of a teacher violently hatcheting her husband.
March 21st, 2005 at 9:40 pm
Oh, dear. Okay, first of all, the M*A*S*H* joke is well placed, because if we consider the show’s “duty” to have informed the public about the horrors and pointlessness of war (not necessarily my position, but clearly the show’s), that it suceeded with flying colors.
But, as I understand it, the media is the “Forth Estate” or “Fourth Branch of the Government” or something like that, and I think that it’s practically excplicit (oxymoron?) goal is to safeguard the masses from tyranny, not posit a position (redundancy?). It’s not the media’s job to say that war is bad, or the George W. Bush is an awesome dude. SO in this repect, neither the “liberal, mainstream media” nor the ” right-wing radio pundits” are doing their jobs.
I will say, however, and I just considered this now, so anyone who bothered to read this far, please comment: I think that, to the extent that the media is the safeguard against tyranny, it must be inherently skeptical of government, regardless of party affiliation. The problem is, the media isn’t a robot that has a “bias” switch that can be turned off…although that just gave me a really good idea…
Hey, Shais, if you happen to come over this Thursday, I’m going to be watching “Circle of Iron”…”while you laugh at the monkey’s antics, he bites you from behind!”
March 22nd, 2005 at 2:26 pm
i agree rochel with the part where you said if you’ve read this far to comment. i’ve become too dumb from monkey-level corporate tasks to respond further or in a more eloquent fashion.
March 22nd, 2005 at 4:12 pm
now i think we should debate the relative merits of watching M*A*S*H with or without the laughtrack (a new feature on the DVD release)…. okay, have at it.
March 23rd, 2005 at 7:59 pm
Circle of Iron was filmed in Israel so, yes, it has a certain level of kedusha to it.
BTW, Rochel, you missed a “no-miss” word in the second line of the second paragraph. I think you can safely take your MA in English off the wall and use it as a wet-wipe next time you change ND’s diaper.
March 24th, 2005 at 3:48 am
its (i can leave out the apostrophe cuz i didn’t even go to college) an MA in TEACHING english- which almost by defintion implies incompitence.
March 24th, 2005 at 11:26 pm
INFERS incompitence. So there.
Rachel Klein, BA/MAT
March 25th, 2005 at 9:20 am
Actually, the error is usually made the other way around. People say, “Well, from the tone of his voice, I could imply that he really wasn’t so thrilled with me getting roaring drunk and ripping the curtains off the wall while holding myself up as I vomitted on his shag carpet.”
What they REALLY mean to say is: “Well, from the tone of his voice, I could INFER that he really wasn’t so thrilled with me getting roaring drunk and ripping the curtains off the wall while holding myself up as I vomitted on his shag carpet.”
Happy Purim.