Monday, November 25, 2024

The Missing Story

One thing about the news is that it doesn’t stick around too long — it comes and goes rather quickly. In that way, it’s a lot like fish — best when fresh; later on not so much. 

But even though the news itself may pass, the people who bring it to you remain in place, or at least they used to.

A few years back, Nieman Reports published a piece by Danielle Benton that pointed out that “(journalists) can’t afford to fall into disarray and depression while reporting on the collapsing world around us.”

This has never been more true. But the media industry is stuck in a deep depression itself from which some think it will never recover.

The problem is not just that there are fewer and fewer jobs for reporters and editors (that’s been true or years); it’s that the world is flooded with disinformation, lies, conspiracy thinking and outright attempts to undermine reporters who seek to tell the truth about important matters.

The incoming Trump administration has vowed to target journalists it deems opposed to its agenda, and many career reporters are worried about whether they will have jobs going forward.

The breakup of NBC News leaves many at MSNBC and CNBC, for example, newly adrift and at risk in an unfriendly political and regulatory environment.

The pre-election decisions by the billionaire owners of the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times to kill their editorial staff’s endorsement of Kamala Harris is another troubling sign of the times.

Meanwhile, the legacy media organizations are seen by many people of all political persuasions as part of the problem rather than the solution. 

When I curate the headlines each day, I rely on what I consider the leading journalistic outlets still operating.

Each month, I am noticing that the voice of the free press is becoming ever more faint.

HEADLINES:

 

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