rotten news relay - comp.os.linux.advocacy - Only 29% of Americans trust the media

I'm surprised it's that high.

'Is Old School Journalism Dead?'

<https://www.newsmax.com/laurahollis/journalism-media-bia/2024/08/02/id/1175022/>

'When I worked at the University of Illinois, I had the great good
fortune to befriend Ron Yates, who was at the time the dean of the
College of Communications (later the College of Media).

Ron is an old-school journalist; he was educated and began his career at
a time when the profession was known for serious (sometimes
life-threatening) investigative work and a passion to find the truth.

He received his degree in journalism from the University of Kansas,
where he was editor of the award-winning student newspaper. In his
senior year, he was invited to Chicago to interview with the Chicago
Tribune, along with only two other college students from across the U.S.

At the interview, Ron says, all three were asked what they wanted to be.
One young man said, "I want to be a movie critic." That man was Gene
Siskel. The other said, "I want to be a columnist." That was Clarence
Page. Ron said, "I want to be a foreign correspondent."

All three got their dream jobs.

In the many years Ron worked for the Tribune, he covered some of the
most harrowing global events of the 20th century, including the Vietnam
War and the fall of Saigon, the collapse of Cambodia to the communist
Khmer Rouge regime, and the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China.

He received numerous awards for his work and was nominated for the
Pulitzer Prize three times, including in 1976, the year he lost to
Sydney Schanberg from The New York Times, who won for his coverage of
the fall of Phnom Penh. (Schanberg's story was made famous by the
Academy Award-winning film, "The Killing Fields," in which his character
was played by Sam Waterston. Oh, the stories Ron tells about that!)

I've been writing about the media's role in massive propaganda campaigns
for several years now. I decided to contact Ron after watching the most
recent Orwellian media makeover: The press is now telling the public
that new Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was never really
the "border czar," despite President Joe Biden having bestowed those
responsibilities upon her and despite that being the title the media
themselves have used the past three years.

I wanted Ron's take on the state of modern journalism in the United
States. His assessment, as you might expect, was scathing.

He started by telling me about a recent Reuters poll which asked
residents from 46 different countries about their trust in media.

"Do you know where the United States came in?" he asked. "Dead last.
Only 29% of Americans trust the media. Even post-communist countries
like Romania and the Czech Republic are better!"

Americans don't trust the press, Ron explained, because they know that
media personalities are twisting facts to fit their preferred political
narrative and suppressing information that doesn't.

"We're being gaslit. For three and a half years, we all watched Biden
decline, but we were being told, 'He's sharp as a tack.'"

Yates identified several causes of the problem: First, journalism
schools are no longer teaching their students the craft.

"When I was in school," he explained, "what was pounded into our heads
was to be as objective as possible. Subvert your own biases; if you
don't, you just become a propagandist." He compared this with today's
journalism graduates, who "don't think it's their job to report the
news; they think it's their job to get people to make the 'right'
choices."

Second, Yates bemoaned the loss of the traditional newsroom. "Young
journalists had mentors who helped them weed opinions out of news
articles," he said. "Accuracy was so important. If you continued to
include your opinion or inaccuracies, you were fired."

He also pointed out the current distorted balance of political
viewpoints.

"In 1971 when I started," Ron said, "26% of reporters identified as
Republicans, 35% as Democrats and the rest as 'independents' or
unaffiliated. Today, 71% of reporters identify as Democrats, about 25%
as independents or 'moderates.' Only 4% identify as Republicans or
conservatives."

He attributes much of this shift to the leftward lurch of higher
education. "Ninety percent of the faculty at a lot of universities are
leftists, and this is just as true of journalism schools."

Finally, Yates says, the organization responsible for monitoring the
profession the Society of Professional Journalists isn't doing its
job. Ron directed me to the SPJ Code of Ethics page, which admonishes
journalists to "seek truth and report it," "be accurate and fair,"
"label advocacy and commentary" and hold "those with power accountable."

"Today's media doesn't do any of that," Yates stated. "The SPJ needs to
hold their feet to the fire, and they're not doing it."

Ron was blunt about the challenges to Americans trying to get the facts.

"It's not going to be easy," he said. "We have information overload.
Media outlets from both political sides are not dealing in truth, so
the onus falls upon the consumer, who has to look at what the liberal
outlets are saying and what the conservative outlets are saying and
decide for themselves what the truth is. But most of the people you see
on TV aren't trained journalists; they just give their opinions. And the
average American can't tell the difference between opinion and
journalism."

Yates is encouraged by the proliferation of new media outlets like
Substack and the Free Press, founded by former New York Times writer
Bari Weiss; the increasing number of other journo expats like Uri
Berliner, Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, and Elon Musk's purchase of
X.

"I hope that journalism in this country isn't dead; that it's only in a
coma," he said. "But it's going to take a revolution in these newsrooms.
Back to the old rules."'

>I'm surprised it's that high.
>
>'Is Old School Journalism Dead?'
>
><https://www.newsmax.com/laurahollis/journalism-media-bia/2024/08/02/id/11
>75022/>
>
>'When I worked at the University of Illinois, I had the great good
>fortune to befriend Ron Yates, who was at the time the dean of the
>College of Communications (later the College of Media).
>
>Ron is an old-school journalist; he was educated and began his career at
>a time when the profession was known for serious (sometimes
>life-threatening) investigative work and a passion to find the truth.
>
>He received his degree in journalism from the University of Kansas,
>where he was editor of the award-winning student newspaper. In his
>senior year, he was invited to Chicago to interview with the Chicago
>Tribune, along with only two other college students from across the U.S.
>
>At the interview, Ron says, all three were asked what they wanted to be.
>One young man said, "I want to be a movie critic." That man was Gene
>Siskel. The other said, "I want to be a columnist." That was Clarence
>Page. Ron said, "I want to be a foreign correspondent."
>
>All three got their dream jobs.
>
>In the many years Ron worked for the Tribune, he covered some of the
>most harrowing global events of the 20th century, including the Vietnam
>War and the fall of Saigon, the collapse of Cambodia to the communist
>Khmer Rouge regime, and the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China.
>
>He received numerous awards for his work and was nominated for the
>Pulitzer Prize three times, including in 1976, the year he lost to
>Sydney Schanberg from The New York Times, who won for his coverage of
>the fall of Phnom Penh. (Schanberg's story was made famous by the
>Academy Award-winning film, "The Killing Fields," in which his character
>was played by Sam Waterston. Oh, the stories Ron tells about that!)
>
>I've been writing about the media's role in massive propaganda campaigns
>for several years now. I decided to contact Ron after watching the most
>recent Orwellian media makeover: The press is now telling the public
>that new Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was never really
>the "border czar," despite President Joe Biden having bestowed those
>responsibilities upon her and despite that being the title the media
>themselves have used the past three years.
>
>I wanted Ron's take on the state of modern journalism in the United
>States. His assessment, as you might expect, was scathing.
>
>He started by telling me about a recent Reuters poll which asked
>residents from 46 different countries about their trust in media.
>
>"Do you know where the United States came in?" he asked. "Dead last.
>Only 29% of Americans trust the media. Even post-communist countries
>like Romania and the Czech Republic are better!"
>
>Americans don't trust the press, Ron explained, because they know that
>media personalities are twisting facts to fit their preferred political
>narrative and suppressing information that doesn't.
>
>"We're being gaslit. For three and a half years, we all watched Biden
>decline, but we were being told, 'He's sharp as a tack.'"
>
>Yates identified several causes of the problem: First, journalism
>schools are no longer teaching their students the craft.
>
>"When I was in school," he explained, "what was pounded into our heads
>was to be as objective as possible. Subvert your own biases; if you
>don't, you just become a propagandist." He compared this with today's
>journalism graduates, who "don't think it's their job to report the
>news; they think it's their job to get people to make the 'right'
>choices."
>
>Second, Yates bemoaned the loss of the traditional newsroom. "Young
>journalists had mentors who helped them weed opinions out of news
>articles," he said. "Accuracy was so important. If you continued to
>include your opinion or inaccuracies, you were fired."
>
>He also pointed out the current distorted balance of political
>viewpoints.
>
>"In 1971 when I started," Ron said, "26% of reporters identified as
>Republicans, 35% as Democrats and the rest as 'independents' or
>unaffiliated. Today, 71% of reporters identify as Democrats, about 25%
>as independents or 'moderates.' Only 4% identify as Republicans or
>conservatives."
>
>He attributes much of this shift to the leftward lurch of higher
>education. "Ninety percent of the faculty at a lot of universities are
>leftists, and this is just as true of journalism schools."
>
>Finally, Yates says, the organization responsible for monitoring the
>profession � the Society of Professional Journalists � isn't doing its
>job. Ron directed me to the SPJ Code of Ethics page, which admonishes
>journalists to "seek truth and report it," "be accurate and fair,"
>"label advocacy and commentary" and hold "those with power accountable."
>
>"Today's media doesn't do any of that," Yates stated. "The SPJ needs to
>hold their feet to the fire, and they're not doing it."
>
>Ron was blunt about the challenges to Americans trying to get the facts.
>
>"It's not going to be easy," he said. "We have information overload.
>Media outlets � from both political sides � are not dealing in truth, so
>the onus falls upon the consumer, who has to look at what the liberal
>outlets are saying and what the conservative outlets are saying and
>decide for themselves what the truth is. But most of the people you see
>on TV aren't trained journalists; they just give their opinions. And the
>average American can't tell the difference between opinion and
>journalism."
>
>Yates is encouraged by the proliferation of new media outlets like
>Substack and the Free Press, founded by former New York Times writer
>Bari Weiss; the increasing number of other journo expats like Uri
>Berliner, Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, and Elon Musk's purchase of
>X.
>
>"I hope that journalism in this country isn't dead; that it's only in a
>coma," he said. "But it's going to take a revolution in these newsrooms.
>Back to the old rules."'
>

I only trust OAN or Gateway Pundit and Breitbart for their take on world
events because they have reporters on the ground everywhere who report
nothing but the unfiltered facts back to me. There's also a poster on
Truth Social named 'naziboi88' who imparts a wealth of common sense wisdom
and advice.

Subject	Author
Only 29% of Americans trust the media	John Smyth
Re: Only 29% of Americans trust the media	Harold Covington
Re: Only 29% of Americans trust the media	naziboi88

BOFH excuse #273: The cord jumped over and hit the power switch.

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