With the current swine flu, I'm sorry H1N1 (which sounds more like an assault rifle) - it brought me back to the topic of the media, and how the media operates today as opposed to yesterday.
BREAKING NEWS - POSSIBLE CASE IN (fill in blank) COUNTY.
Maybe. Possible. Could be.
In years past, when journalism actually had a code of ethics and were held to some sort of responsibility to actually check facts before reporting something as news, journalism did just that. News was not news until the facts were checked out and a report was given stating all the known facts. Sure there would be a delay but you knew when the report came out, you'd get all the facts and everyone would get their facts straight.
But now? Maybe it's the information age (which ironically seems to be full more of misinformation than information), but it seems that with the evolution of the internet and television ratings, "news media" would rather be the first to the "breaking news" line, whether or not it's true doesn't matter. As long as "I said it first! I win!"
And then, go back and check the actual facts, later. Even though you already threw out a bunch of garbage that people read or heard or watched as news. Most of the time, they don't even go back to correct what was wrong in their new flash, they move on to the next "breaking news". If we're lucky maybe there's a little correction on the back of page 400 in the paper. On TV? Or online? They never go back and correct themselves.
Notice how all the news channels, network channels, newspaper's online entities, they all do it. They all want to be the first to report something, at all costs. Whether or not it's even correct or valid or truthful has become 2nd priority. Never mind it may not be true, just get it out there first, so we can say we were the first to report it. If it ruins someone's name or image, or is completely full of nontruths and unconfirmed "facts" - who cares? We won, we said it first! We got the ratings or the page clicks.
The same goes for the political world, and in this regard Rush Limbaugh has an expression "Drive-By Media", a term I absolutely love. He claims the media does sensationalist drive bys, similar to that of gang-bangers making a hit on a target. They throw something out there for the sole purpose to devestate or destroy someone or something, and then drive off never to speak of it again. Only then others have to come by and pick up the pieces, perform the investigations, see who was hit, and try to heal the wounds, state the actual truth, and point out what was not true, what was flat out lies, or simply made up.
When will journalism be factual again instead of fashionable?
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