America is in a long, steady decline. How do I know this?
The news media industry is in a big free fall, and once a society loses its journalistic safeguard, it loses its objectivity, and falls prey to lies, hidden dangers, and desperate corrective maneuvers.
A recent study of news room employment in the United States shows a steady decline of the number of news room employees at newspapers, radio stations, broadcast, cable TV, and digital news publishers. From 2008, with 14,000 total newsroom employees- reporters, editors, photographers, and videographers - 30,000 jobs were lost by 2020, when 85,000 were employed.
The nation has lost a quarter of its news media workforce in a dozen years, leaving news deserts in parts of the country and weakened news coverage in other parts. This means fewer reporters to dig up stories, fewer news-checkers to verify facts, fewer editors to ensure quality control, and fewer journalists who aren’t overworked.
When you dig further, it’s worse than it already sounds.
Newspaper newsroom employment feel by 57% in that dozen-year span. Digital-native newsroom employees sprouted up, but not nearly enough to make up for the dramatic loss at newspapers.
TV basically remained flat in terms of its newsroom workforce and radio saw a 25% decline.
A free and prosperous and just nation relies on the fourth estate - the news media - to keep a checks-and-balances approach on all branches of government, big business, law enforcement, crime, the wealthy, and all-powerful forces that society is comprised of. Without a string media watch dog, we are witnessing the decline and fall of America.
A bit dramatic, you say?
The news media are our police without the badges, brave and curious people who seek to uncover truth, scandal, and corruption, and to identify heroes, empowering stories, and news that people need to know. Just as we can’t function without a viable police force, we can’t go on without a news media that is there to be our safeguard.
Where are we today?
Journalism has taken a beating. We have partisan hacks on cable-TV. MSNBC is ultra-Woke. CNN is quite liberal. Fox is quite conservative. News max and others are right-wing extremists. Not one show is balanced and fair.
The other issue is we’ve substituted opinions and infotainment for hard news. There’s less reporting going on, fewer breaking news stories, and hardly any old-fashioned expose pieces. Instead, we get analysis, opinion, and debate over a topic - but no real reporting.
Too many people hear fake news and believe it. They accept opinion as fact. They lack the ability to discern bias in reporting. Further, they are blindly accusing legit reporters of fake news, bias, or errors when there’s no proof to substantiate such claims. It’s like everyone painting each other as a witch at the Salem witch trials. Society is burning at the stake.
So, what’s the solution?
We need to get back to teaching the hardcore principles of journalism to those who practice it - and we need a civics course for everyone so they can understand their responsibilities, rights, and resources as a citizen. The course needs to include an understanding of what is news -- and what isn’t.
Just as important, we need to create a 10-year fund that can’t be clawed back by those who fund it. We need a neutral media company - one that’s truly centrist, apolitical, and observant of journalistic practices. This company would be in all media: radio, newspaper, newsmagazine, newswire, blogging, podcasting, cable TV, broadcast TV, and digital media.
The fund could come from anywhere - government, non-profit, citizens, businesses - provided those who fund it have zero editorial control. By building up a fund to run this venture for 10 years, any threats to pull out of future funding won’t be so threatening.
Too often, too many news outlets have failed us, whether intentionally, accidentally, or unknowingly. They don’t go deep enough in their reporting. They got things wrong or report out of context. They legislate and opinion-monger. Activist journalism is destroying the news media.
Believe me, this is not the boy crying wolf.
This alarm needs to be heard. We are in deep trouble when we lack a strong news
media, and this century has witnessed a dramatic decline in the size and
quality of our news media. We need to reverse coverage - and fast - or the
American experiment is over.
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About Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter
@theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and
raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and
Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer
and IBPA’s The Independent. This
award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts
over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by
BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018
as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com
as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as
the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two
jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time,
self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors
and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine
Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren
Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy,
Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for
Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers
Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod
Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and
Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have
been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY
Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington
Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.
For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.
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