TrueNews: Shrinking Newspaper Coverage Means Less Real TV News More Sexy Reporters

Monday, December 29, 2008

Shrinking Newspaper Coverage Means Less Real TV News More Sexy Reporters

Shrinking Coverage Means Less Real News - More Sex

Let's face it: TV and radio stations rely on the local newspaper for most of their news. So what happens to those "rip and read" broadcasters as print staffs shrivel amid the draconian layoffs strafing the newspaper industry? Print journalists have long chafed at broadcast media pilfering their stories, often without bothering to credit the source. The thinness in assembling TV news -- and the manner in which they use newspapers as de facto tip sheets and newsgathering surrogates - has long been one of broadcasting's dirty little secrets.

Several experienced New York TV Reporters were "let go" recently. This is a national cost cutting trend in local television news that can only make TV news' already weakened ability to go beyond rip and read news content even weaker. High definition will guarantee even more inexpensive, and inexperienced anchors and reporters . Why you ask? It's simple really -- only 20- and 30-years-olds look good on high definition. Even though the seasoned reporter might deliver invaluable information, some idiot from some focus group tells the corporations " I just hate her hair!" The corporations next move? An ad -- fresh meat wanted. . . Secret tape of next years new NY local TV news program.

As newspapers go out of business and experienced reporters leave, local news will have more time for ratings grabbers “Happy Talk” also called banter. It may consist of simple jokes or simply a modified wording in asking a question of another reporter. For instance, instead of a simple handoff to a sportscaster, an anchor might say, "So, Dave, what the heck happened out on that field today? Is our team going down the tubes?"

Today, most Americans say they get most of their information from local television news. How well are local broadcasters living up to the public interest promises they made in order to get their licenses? Edward R. Murrow answered that question 50 years ago. “This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box."

TV News consultants design sexy reporting "happy talk" news formats not with the idea to inform but with the goal of attracting high ratings. That role for TV news was not as dangerous, with strong newspapers fulfilling the role of informing the public with what they need to know. As print fades, the fallout promises to hasten broadcast news' descent as well -- from "Rip and read" to simply "read it and weep." Our Democracy is in serious trouble.

“An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic.” - Thomas Jefferson

Washington Obama bristles as the bubble closes in *** Blago's No. 2: Get out *** Laura Bush stands by her man *** Israel Launches More Attacks - Obama's First Test *** President-elect Barack Obama leans toward Israel *** Axelrod Puts Stimulus Plan at $675 Billion to $775 Billion

Albany NY'S CRAZY '08 - Yearly roundup by Post's Dicker *** Post Editorial - Lower Manhattan Development Corp. has evolved into Speaker Silver's political piggy bank *** The Monserrate matter *** Stimulus Could Help Shrink N.Y.’s Budget Gap and close the MTA budget gap *** Chief Judge Kaye exits 'role of a lifetime'

Carl "Gang of 3" Kruger Cooperates While Kruger and his two Democratic gang buddies have not been able to solve his differences and allow their party to rule over the senate for the first time in a generation, he does seem to work well with Republicans in both Albany and in Brooklyn. In the state capital Kruger is the only democratic chair of a Senate committee, Social Services. In Brooklyn Kruger is part of a non-aggression no-challenge pact between Southern Brooklyn Democrats and the only Republican elected office holder in Brooklyn, Senator Marty Golden. Kruger had no Republican Challenger and Golden had no Democratic opponent.

City Hall Speaker Quinn has quietly been rewarding her political allies to bolster their legislative staffs with funding from her own budget *** PARKING BREAK FOR MAYOR'S STRONGHOLDS *** Brooklyn saw scandal, MTV fame & weirdness in 2008 *** Bronx saw its share of high drama, low comedy in 2008 *** Queens boro saw Bell verdict and toppled pols in 2008 *** Inspector once worked for crane's owner *** Top 10 New York Stories of 2008 *** Bloomberg May Consider Worker Buyout Plan *** NYers line up to say: Good riddance, 2008 *** Let's Hear It For Howard "Show Me The Money" Wolfson

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Wall Street Meltdown Wall Street Faces Worst Yearly Drop Since 1931 *** Bargains: Desperate Dealers Slash Small Car Prices

Senate Campaign Kennedy To NYT Interviewers: You Should Write For "A Woman's Magazine" *** CAROLINE'S $50 Million CRIB in Martha's Vineyard *** King vs. Princess *** SILVER UNSWAYED ABOUT KENNEDY'S LOYALTIES *** Caroline Kennedy Chats with NY Times, Daily News, Post *** Who have we heard this from before? *** The Gray Lady or Ladies Home Journal?

Caroline Paying Back the Times? “Why Kennedy has any claim on New York to rescue him from non-office is a mystery . . . The constitutionality of Mr. Kennedy’s running in NY does not seem to be in doubt; his utter innocence as to New York State problems should be. . . . Does New York really need Bobby Kennedy?” - NY Times Editorial on August 12, 1964

Media Meltdown Chicago's newspapers facing troubled futures
More black teens in gun deaths - study

Why Donate to True News Keep Real News Alive. Put simply, True News -- and the truth – cannot do more and could even end without financial help from the people who want to hold the government accountable for their actions. As you know True News, without any support, has fought to keep the real NYC’s investigative and analysis reporting era of great journalism alive. True News is a living memorial to publisher John Peter Zenger who was jailed in 1733 by the King for reporting to New Yorkers what was going on in their city. It is also in the tradition of the Ben Bradlee generation that believes that all reporters would not be doing their job if they did not follow the story until they got to the truth. Today’s reporters copy press releases from elected officials and lobbyists hired by the special interests who want to control the message. The lost circulation of newspapers has created a generation of young reporters who not only rely on elected officials and lobbyists for stories, but don’t even Google to find the historical context or, more importantly, the truth behind the stories they write. In this era of sell-out journalism, the public has become disconnected, powerless and trapped by a permanent government that has turned against them. The media blames an apathetic public for not voting even after democratic consultants act like an Orwellian 'Big Bother' threatening them to vote or be looked into. True News reports that the reason for the decreasing turn-out is the public no longer feel their votes matter. If you value hard hitting Investigative Journalism, don't let True News go the way of the Passenger Pigeon. The Newfield, Barrett, Kempton, Hammel of yesteryear are no more. Local TV news limits itself to good looking women and men reading about breaking fires and crimes, with few exceptions. What's left that isn't tabloid is a wasteland of superficial news, driven by political and corporate PR machines, sowing the fertile seeds of corruption public and private hand in glove. Despite the soft news we see, standard bearers play a significant albeit vestigial role. Newspapers constantly pick up stories from True News (without crediting us of course) avoiding the costs to investigate themselves. Without True News, the New York Press and this blog's over one and half million readers will be utterly lost in the wilderness. Only True News is explaining: How Blacks, the Poor and the Middle Class are Being Pushed out of Brooklyn Because of Albany's Tax Breaks for Luxury Developers and Apartments Gives Details How Lobbyists and Developers Run A Secret Shadow Government that Also Controls Elections With Big Money and Their Control Over the Media Investigates How Political Party Bosses Have Been Replaced By Lobbyists' Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine Reports How the WFP and the Elected Officials Who Are Supported By Them Have Abused and Aggressively Broken Campaign Finance Laws. True news is not funded by special interests like the other news blogs. True News has been self-funded all these years. True News does not make nice with sitting politicians, developers, lobbyists to fund it or to provide its young clueless reporters with story ideas. True News wants nothing more than to scratch out a modest living in its aim to investigate, connect the dots, and get to the truth of every newsworthy story. To carry on in this mission, True News needs funding from people like you -- People Who Want Better Journalism in order to learn what is really going on in their government and fight the corrupt politicians. It's been written about True News Those of you who have an involvement in the dangerous game of politics, it may be of interest to know who’s telling the truth these days, and, whether the articles we read are real or imagined disinformation, emanating directly out of a governmental PR department. No genuine journalist would ever rely on such a source for the truth. As publisher of the SoHo Journal, through personal experience, take it from me that it is possible to become a political target for simply writing about the truth. And the mainstream media and writers eat their own for sales— as well as take orders from their masters— corporate, financial and political masters. Always pay attention to the agenda. Read between the lines. That is the basis of real reporting and political comprehension. Not the rehashing of a press release. OWS had a handle on this reality as well. Pay attention to the current daily blog written by Gary Tilzer. His True News is one of the few remaining sources for political investigative reporting. His fearless reporting of the truth in political circles is worth noting. Contributors names are confidential

Other Views

On October 15, 1958, veteran broadcaster Edward R. Murrow delivered his famous "wires and lights in a box" speech (VIDEO) The Last Lion of Tammany HOW JIMMY McMANUS, MANHATTAN’S LAST GREAT TAMMANY DISTRICT LEADER, HELPED TO REVIVE HELL’S KITCHEN AND THE THEATER DISTRICT c By James S. Kaplan f On January 13, 2011, the law firm of Proskauer Rose moved into 11 Times Square, which is located on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. In moving west to the final building of the City’s Times Square redevelopment, the Proskauer firm joined such other major law firms as Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Covington & Burling, Roberts & Holland, and the advertising firm of Ogilvy & Mather. That such major professional firms, along with a number of newly constructed luxury apartment buildings on 42nd Street from ninth to eleventh avenue and trendy restaurants and off Broadway theaters would be located west of 8th Avenue in midtown would have been almost inconceivable fifty years ago. Tammany Last Stand Continued

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"I don't care a straw for your newspaper articles, my constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures." Boss Tweed

"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." Thomas Jefferson

The Internet is a large-scale version of the "Committees of Correspondence" that led to the first American Revolution

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. ” -Thomas Jefferson

“Nearly all the newspaper accounts published at the time were manufactured by journalists at a distance, and were not only inaccurate in their facts but intentionally misleading.”
- George Orwell (Homage to Catalonia)

Gene Kelley in “Inherit the Wind” described the job of a newsman: “Comfort the afflicted; and afflict the comfortable.”

In the beginning of the last century, Lincoln Steffens and Jacob Riis were the muck rakers. Steffens tried to rouse the public to take action against the misdeeds of government and corporate leaders. Jacob Riis, a Danish immigrant, was the pioneer of photo journalism. He took his camera into the miserable tenement slums of the city. Depicting the plight of the poor, he wrote a book called “How the Other Half Lives.”

"Through the years of the 20th century even the most mercenary of newspaper owners were, above all, conscious of their duty to inform the public and they backed their reporters to the hilt. It was not just a matter of right or wrong---but common sense. The ethics of good journalism in this era, alas, seems to have been forgotten." Gabe Pressman

"A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues." Theodore Roosevelt

As a 19th-century Manhattan politician once observed, “no man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.”

"Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock." — Ben Hecht

Kempton once said, "There's no excuse for kicking somebody unless he's up." Murray Kempton used to kick people who were up all the time, and though he was half their weight and underpaid it was beautiful to watch. Quite beautiful.

Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations. - George Orwell

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