I used to work in the news business-- Hollywood trades, local newspapers, various other industry trade mags, etc. It's really not much different today than it's ever been in my opinion, and it always a difficult venture. Human beings reporting on the foibles and follies of their fellow humans is rife for corruption and nonsense. The passage of time smooths out and diminishes the horrid journalism of the past.
One of the big differences is 1) the media spotlight used to be relatively small. Today, it's everywhere, literally. It's inescapable.
2) In bygone days, the wealthy, the powerful etc. generally tended to shy away from the spotlight much more than today. Now they bathe in it.
Thanks, Sandra! It's a thought but goshhh I don't know how to value hard news (I'm also always in search of opinions!) so I'll need to figure that out too...
That's such a great way to put it, Rick. The news climate crisis has already entered so many dangerous levels and I wish we could have a "Paris Agreement" equivalent for it!
I used to work in the news business-- Hollywood trades, local newspapers, various other industry trade mags, etc. It's really not much different today than it's ever been in my opinion, and it always a difficult venture. Human beings reporting on the foibles and follies of their fellow humans is rife for corruption and nonsense. The passage of time smooths out and diminishes the horrid journalism of the past.
One of the big differences is 1) the media spotlight used to be relatively small. Today, it's everywhere, literally. It's inescapable.
2) In bygone days, the wealthy, the powerful etc. generally tended to shy away from the spotlight much more than today. Now they bathe in it.
That is so true! For point 2, it reminds me of this piece from NYTimes about flexing one's wealth - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/22/style/quiet-luxury-wealth-status.html
Ooof--loved getting your thoughts on this.
This is a lovely sentence to end on, "And unless we learn to value hard news, opinions will continue to eclipse the truth."
Thanks, Sandra! It's a thought but goshhh I don't know how to value hard news (I'm also always in search of opinions!) so I'll need to figure that out too...
Love how this turned out, Rebecca! I'm sure there are more journalism-related musings that we'll get from you in future editions!
Thanks for the note, Camilo! I'll definitely have to explore these musings more for future posts.
This is sobering Rebecca. We clearly have a news climate crisis occurring in tangent with the environmental one.
That's such a great way to put it, Rick. The news climate crisis has already entered so many dangerous levels and I wish we could have a "Paris Agreement" equivalent for it!
So glad you're writing on this topic that not many discuss!
Thanks for the note! A good sign that I can keep mulling over these thoughts and writing them out in the future.