Dream with me

Hexa's Defence of Print Journalism

He was complaing about the NYT newspaper which had effectivly buried reports of terrorist hijackings in Russia and has - by all accounts - got it's head firmly lodged in Bush's arse.

He was saying that the journalists of this newspaper didn't know what was important and didn't know news.

I happen to think that's a somewhat slanted view of things. And mildly arrogant.

They know it was news because they printed it. They might have buried it in the International news section but they printed it. Space in print publications is highly valued and would not have been given away lighly by the Editor, nor would the time of his most likely tiny newsroom staff.

The point is they know news. Or more importantly they know their readers. Their readership will be primarily Republican men who support the President. If they want to maintain their readership and keep their advertisers and keep the money to keep writing, they have to pander to the readers beliefs and prejudices.

The notion of an impartial publication or news network is frankly laughable. It does not exist. It has not existed at any point in history. The whole point of news reports is to put a certain slant on things. And that slant these days is decided by lots of men and women in boardrooms who understand *statistics* and their audience.

For Example.

When Nelson Mandela was released from prison most of the worlds news networks all decided to cover that and *not* the humanitarian crisis in Rowanda.

You want to know why? Because those men and women in suits thought the public would not be able to *handle* two stories about Africa. They we would become *confused.*

It's a business, it always has been a business. Any publication that has tried to contend for the 'good of the people' have been ground to dust by that business.

So next time you're watching the news, or reading a paper or an online report bare in mind that unless you are a reliable News Agencies site like Reuters or PA, then you are probably getting two thirds of the whole.

Oh and print media is by no means being devoured by TV broadcasts. In fact it's evolving and moving from paper to electronic. Tangible newspapers might be slowly disappearing but the traditions and practises of print Journalism are alive and well in cyber space. Everyone thought the Internet would kill books and they're more popular than ever.

The TV has personal value. It has the human touch. But Print or written news has a vastly long established reputation. It's not going anywhere any time soon.

If you want to know my basis for this opinion I can easily furnish you with my 2500 word essay on that very subject.

So I say to the random diary guy - get your facts straight before you get on your high horse, because otherwise you'll end up looking like a prat.

Ja Ne