[antimedia] antimedia: Another journalist....

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Posted by antimedia:
Another journalist....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1169443570.shtml


   ....[1]gets it.

     The internet has changed many things about the way journalists work
     but the most important change has been in the power relation
     involved in newsgathering and reporting.
     When owning a newspaper was the privilege of the rich and powerful
     and broadcasting required permission from numerous gatekeepers,
     there was a clear difference between a BBC reporter or Guardian
     columnist and the people whose stories were being told.
     Journalists, at least at the national level, were different from
     the people they wrote about and were rarely directly involved in
     the stories they wrote or the communities they covered.
     This separation leads directly to a sense of privilege on the part
     of the journalist, an arrogance that often spills over in the way
     stories are researched or presented. It is an arrogance that has
     clearly fuelled the disdain for mainstream media expressed so often
     online.

   People aren't stupid. They can smell the arrogance and condescension a
   mile away. It's trite to say it, but a journalist who makes millions
   of dollars a year and hobnobs with the rich and the famous can't
   possibly understand what it's like to work every day just to pay the
   bills. It shows in their reporting. They're removed and aloof and
   don't even understand the issues that are important to joe everyman.
   Just like the corporate executives they so openly disdain, news
   anchors are paid for more than they are worth and live a pampered,
   luxurious life that doesn't lend itself to a perspective that
   encourages honest reporting or questioning of facts. The results are
   self-evident. (Hat tip to [2]Pierre Legrand.)

References

   1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6279331.stm
   2. http://pierrelegrand.net/2007/01/20/hmmmmainstream-media-getting-the-message.htm