Vad gör journalisterna?
16 juni 2003 | Ingen har kommenterat än
Billmons noggranna katalogisering av Bush-regimens uttalande i sin webblogg (se notisen ”Självsnärjd”) har redan fått många hyllningar: ”what may have been the most important and influential blog post, thus far, in the history of blogging” skriver en.
Själv skriver billmon:
”Keeping track of what those in power say – and holding them accountable for it – is not brilliance. It is (or should be) the stuff of ordinary journalism. It’s the kind of thing the American media used to do, sometimes – before 9/11 and our endless ”war” on terrorism caused it to shut down the part of its collective brain devoted to critical thinking.
The fact that some dinky little blog now has to do the job does not reflect great credit on the blogger, but rather great shame on the media. Like the rest of American society, American journalism appears to have flushed some of the most important lessons of the Vietnam War down the toilet.
What happened on 9/11 may have changed the world, but it didn’t change human nature: Government officials still lie – or distort the facts to serve their interests. Bureaucrats still manuever for power, using human beings as their pawns. Intelligence is still tailored to fit the policy, instead of the other way around.
This isn’t ”revisionism,” it’s historical reality. And while Condi Rice may not know the difference, most journalists – or at least the good ones – do. And there are still some good ones out there. After all, most of what we bloggers discuss and (endlessly) regurgitate in our posts originally comes from the mainstream press. Most of the quotes I used in Tangled Web were first reported somewhere else, usually by a major newspaper or network.
But what the media seems to be lacking these days is a short-term memory. Things get said, then dumped on a hard drive somewhere and forgotten. Maybe it’s just a function of information overload – too many press conferences, too many hearings, too many Sunday talk shows. And, in a era of corporate media ”synergy,” not nearly enough journalists to cover it all.”
(Whiskey Bar: Even the smallest person)
Kategori: Ekonomi, media och samhälle
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