Did Journalism Die?

Journalism is dead. Stripped of integrity, love and relevance, it has passed behind the curtain of pertinence. Does the blood of its death stain the hands of blogs, the internet or other interactive and immediate media? Does it tattoo the teeth of videogames, cable television and strangled attention spans? No....or yes, but not directly. These are merely symptoms of a larger disease. Greed, and the final destination of all things capitalism.

I'll try to refrain from making this an economic theory debate, but will instead try to sum up that part of my argument in just a few of lines.

In sport, and in just about every facet of life, the correct path lies not at the fringes of the extreme (in either direction), but rather in the gray, compromise laden middle. In my opinion, this holds true in socioeconomics as well. A population can not donate itself entirely to either true communism or true capitalism, as both fail to register the failings of the human ego. While one, communism, fails to properly reward achievement (when all are equal those that exceed expectation become passed over and forgotten, a sin which pride will not allow) while Capitalism does so with vast overcompensation (when currency is both the measure of success and suddenly a prelude to respect, both the id and the ego are fed...whether it be direct, or indirect).

Ok, enough of that. It's not really my point, but I felt it needed to be briefly addressed in order to present what is my argument. Journalism is dead, and greed is who stands over its carcass.

Major newspapers are failing, not because they are not profitable, but because they aren't profitable enough. The largest paper in a significant market is shutting down (or becoming solely an internet venture - which isn't a problem in itself as newspapers must adapt to the modern medium) not because it is losing money, but because it is only making ten million dollars a year. Journalist are being sent home to cut cost, again not because keeping them is putting the business in the red, but because it isn't as profitable as it could be....respect, cultural significance be damned.

Skeleton crews are kept to produce stories only meant for mass consumption. Their time railed away from where their instincts may take them, and herded into short term dollars and/or hits. These assembly line stories haven't the need for deep research or fact checking, thus the true explanation of "downsizing" in this field.

Information is no longer essential, unless it directly contributes to the numbers that can be presented to potential advertisers.

As corporations have taken over the American vistas, the accountability of products (as services are no longer services provided to and for the community, they are simply products) have been dismissed in favor of the bottom line. Who cares about inspiring change or the plight of the righteous when a picture of Paris Hilton or Britney Spears forgetting to wear panties can sell at least twice as many copies, or gather infinite more hits.

Where there was once a divide between true journalism and sensationalism, there is now a bond. After all, when the same company owns both and makes far more money from one, isn't it only an amount of time before that corporation sheds the lesser earner, especially if there is no societal responsibility felt. When the company that owns your paper/station/site is based in New York or any other place, do you think they honestly concern themselves with their effect on your environment? They are only hungry for what's in your wallet/purse, not in the quality of your life, because they know they don't have to be. You don't make them, and they know you won't.

Radio was the first to stab a thorn into the heart of journalism. Television soon pried that wound much wider and dug deeper. Now, the internet has gripped it's heart with hands too young to be calloused and set in motion the apocalypse of the well researched and meticulously planned written word. Even as I sit here typing this, I am a culprit. Speed and entertainment have trumped importance and accuracy.

Given where our attentions are thrown, we the consumer are as much to blame as anyone. When everything is a business, and every business is alive merely to earn money, everything is for sale and all is measured in the currency collected. Corporations are ruled by men and women who sold their morality to be where they are (not every one, but there are too many examples to deny this statement in its entirety), by those who view corruption not as a weakness but as a line in the standard rules. So, how can we expect the deities they control to be any different.

Again, when only money matters, it goes without saying that nothing else does.

As you peruse sites designed for immediate attraction by minimal staffs without the time or support to do their jobs accurately (thoroughly) remember why that is...because of you (and me). We ignore their greed because we don't believe we feel its effect, though it has come to completely shape this world around us. You feel it as you search for that next loan. You find it in the sites you visit, designed not to inform but to gather the ads that litter its face like scarring acne. You find it in the void left where true journalist once tread, where through the tedium of misguided sources stories died and rarely, when research and time did prove fruitful, they crept up to change the world around them and changed the lens you see the world through.

When you curse the blatant corruption rampant in our own government, or the distorted hierarchy of modern American life (where money overrides importance), try to remember how many stories you glanced by or skipped over about these facts to get to that most recent nipple slip, or Hollywood rumor. Try to remember how many people showed up to protest Enron leaders minimal punishments or a complete lack of government accountability, and then try to remember how many were there to denounce one of that very same group who slept with an intern or slipped with any other sexual misstep.

Where people once followed the outrage carried to light on the back of journalism and those in danger of being outed found fear, there are no more flies on the wall and the fear of being sought out is forgotten. And, why wouldn't it be? If you get caught, just act out the scenes your PR staff scripts and then keep quiet and we'll forget soon enough. You're only in trouble for as long we're interested.

Ok, I guess that's enough of a rant. I know this is somewhat convoluted and goes in too many directions at once, but hey....I'm not getting paid to fill out the flesh of the story.

Addendum:

A quick comment from me....

I am aware that there are some, if not many newspapers that are realistically in the "red" and that their cutbacks in staffing, and thus quality journalism, are out of necessity for survival.

However, I am also aware that maintaining a profit margin, not just a profit, is as rampant as necessity.

And, as long as we the consumer give only financial reward for these cutbacks and reversions toward sensationalism and away from information derived through time consuming investigation, why would they choose any other path?

Making one of my larger points very bluntly is this, we the consumer choose what we are sold, thus we haven't the right to be upset when we find that we are deceived and uncared for by the deities we choose to support with the money we've sold to them.

Don't wonder why no one told us we were being deceived, when we all but turned our back on the people and/or protectors once appointed to do so.

You complain about the press, yet you shape who and what they are.

So, I guess we stand hand in hand with greed as the coffin of true journalism is lowered into the ground.

Sad, Desperate, Angry, Apathetic?

Like most nights, I went into last night's Mavs game with quiet optimism. You know, that subtle hope that this team is better than it's given credit for. That they were the reincarnation of the Rockets on their second title run (another team I watched faithfully, and seemed to endlessly lead me on fruitless chases into disappointment....well, until the playoffs that is). That this team could sneak into the playoffs at something better than the 8th seed to avoid playing the Lakers in the first round, where they could then uncoil the strike they've been storing up all season to "shock the world".

That, like the Rockets, they have developed the habit of playing up to or down to their opponent.

Then came the second highly contested game against a young team with talent, but without most of that talent playing, in the team stolen from Seattle (the team that serves as a not so subtle sirens call that when all teams are for sale, any can be bought).

As a Mavs fan, this season hasn't been easy, beginning with the silence of what promised (honest, the promises came to us from the lips of our own Generic Masochist - isn't that what GM stands for) to be an active and eventful draft day, to the echoed promises of what was sure to be a frantic and rewarding trading deadline, to the current whispers of what could and should be this off-season or the next....and more to the point, to what we're seeing on the court.

Going into the year, we all wondered if Kidd had enough to be a valid contributor and dreamed of what could come back when we finally broke up the true core of the team that choked away the Finals and a Golden State series, and traded Josh Howard (or mini-Damp, as he is often prone to be). The dreams paved the way to a destination where hope wasn't being strangled away from its decaying grip by reality. Hope was as vibrant and gleeful as I was when watching the full-screen version of The Breakup (haven't actually seen it, but supposedly the scene with Anniston walking naked through the apartment includes her visibly topless - don't quote me on that however, as I have not been able to verify it myself, sadly).

Sorry, even the thoughts sidetracked me, but we've found that yes, Kidd can still be a very good player...and as clutch as anyone the Mavs have ever had (which makes you wonder even louder why Avery benched him at the end of that Spurs game). Sadly, we've also found the ineptitude of our front office knows no bounds. How many times must this core (Dirk, Terry, Howard - and whether you admit it or not, that was and is the core. Harris was only beginning to be a part of it, but was still only peripheral) fail before it is tweaked. Apparently, at least once more.

Dirk IS the kind of player a team can be built around, regardless of what countless unappreciative Dallas fans will say. A trip to the Finals alone proves this. Terry is the heart and soul of this team, and honestly, it's going to hurt whenever he does leave. You couldn't ask for a better guy to be a part of "your" team. That leaves Howard. The supposed second best player on this team for years. Yet, also a player that has never done anything when it mattered. The front office's overvaluing of him alone is what is attempting to destroy what was once a golden opportunity.

They say he's a top 20 player in this league, regardless of the fact that I could name at least 50 I'd rather have, and have refused to move him when his value was high. Hopefully we'll find out where his value is this summer, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear the company line cast again - never mind that the lake is dry and the suffocating fish are growing more and more uninterested in what this company has to say (need to check the TV ratings again).

The fact that Dampier is still in the NBA is a direct insult on the league itself. David Stern should be begging to buy out his contract yesterday, personally.

Anyway, I've digressed (another symptom of frustration and anger - it's too easy to pull those chords and want to trace that rail of rant)....then came the storm of the Thunder, and hell came with them. The hell of realizing this team has a very real chance of missing the playoffs. The hell of watching a bunch of millionaires that supposedly love this team and city give about 30% effort for three quarters before realizing they were even playing in a game that counted. The hell of seeing Dirk, Terry and Kidd trying to carry a team that just doesn't seem to care.

Last year we thought this lack of effort was a team giving up on its coach. So, what's the problem this year?

If this team can sneak into (how long has it been put that way - "sneak") the playoffs and avoid the Lakers and Utah, I still think they can put up a good fight, but that sneaking is going to have to come behind a fist. We'll see, and then we'll ultimately see what they do this summer. We are approaching the last chance ride with Dirk, and we print the tickets this summer.