The Fourth Estate is Crumbling

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://medium.com/daniellemoodie/the-fourth-estate-is-crumbling-330ca11e47f6


Over the last six years American politics has undergone a transformation unlike anything we have seen in the modern era. For over 240 years, America has been able to sustain its political designation as the world’s foremost democracy. Through a Civil War, two World Wars, the Cold War and too many lesser wars in between this nation has been able to maintain the illusion of democracy, a beacon, a dream of freedom worth risking life and limb to attain. At the age of five years old, Americans begin to pledge allegiance to the flag. To salute the red, white and blue and recite our obedience and with it our solemn vow to uphold principles of being one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. That is of course until January 6, 2021 when we saw that very same flag, the one we have seen planted on the moon and on fields of battle used as a weapon to break into the Capitol building as an attempt to overthrow the very government and country, by our birth in this nation, we swore to protect.

As the Capitol was engulfed in a plume of smoke, being defaced by a group of white domestic terrorists that were weaponized by the Commander in Chief, the eyes of the countless journalists dispatched to cover one of America’s darkest days since the the Civil War, revealed the absolute horror millions of Americans felt that day. We knew as we were watching this siege unfold that history was indeed in the making. It would be the responsibility of the Fourth Estate to place into words the utter mayhem and disgrace that besieged our Capitol. Since the very beginning of the formation of this nation–a free and unencumbered press has been essential to holding elected officials accountable for their actions and keeping the citizenry informed. A free press is the essential marker and distinction that separates the world’s democracies from dictatorships and authoritarian regimes.

And yet, over the course of the last six years not only have we watched our nation grapple with a global pandemic, whose catastrophic grip could have been avoided, and a racial uprising; but we have also witnessed on of the country’s major political parties profess their allegiance not to the flag or the nation, but instead a man. If America were any other country, the free press would be unrelenting in its coverage of a nation on the brink. Particularly when for the first time in its history the International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy report labeled the United States a “backsliding democracy”. Many knew the direction that this country would head towards when the Republican Party anointed Donald J. Trump as its leader, a man known all too well for his greed, his racism, and his lies–however, what makes “good TV” as it turns out, doesn’t translate to making good government or a secure democracy.

“While journalism plays various roles in society, perhaps its most important is how it serves as a bridge of information from the government to the common citizen,” wrote Nathan Tosando in the UT Daily Beacon. This bridge however is now under assault. Donald J. Trump became president in large part because of the willful ignorance of the free press to the danger he presented to the republic. While media outlets clamored for clicks the advent of showcasing “both sides” became their hallmark for providing a microphone and ink to one of the most egregious political figures (and his party of sycophants) this country has ever seen. While the forefathers of this nation had keen insight into the hearts of men (they didn’t care too much for the thoughts of women), nothing could have prepared them for this–except the assumption that a free press would bring to the people what it had since the beginning of time–the truth. Sadly, there is nothing truly free about a press that has fallen to privatization and capitalism. Why let the truth get in the way of a good click? We bore witness as the revolving door at the Trump White House as it dumped its many prevaricators on the doorsteps of once reputable outlets, all in their faux quest for the appearance of neutrality while giving voice and credence to the rhetoric that is hellbent on destroying everything the forefathers imagined, including and most importantly a free and informative press.

If not for the press, Senator Joe McCarthy’s desire to purge un-Americans would have succeeded, Nixon’s treachery wouldn’t have been revealed, and so on. Yet now we find ourselves at a crossroads. As media outlets are being purchased like pieces on a monopoly board by right-wing extremists who are using the veil of neutrality to place bad actors in positions of power, providing them with the platform to lie to tens of millions–the ability to suss out the truth is becoming almost impossible for the average citizen. The time for neutrality has long since passed. It should have ended the day Donald J. Trump bragged about sexual assault and referred to Mexicans as rapists. Now, here we are with a former twice impeached ex-president with classified nuclear documents scattered on his Mar-a-Lago office floor eyeing a potential run for the presidency in 2024, with the press ready to launch America into authoritarianism. If the Fourth Estate doesn’t wake up soon, his inauguration in January 2025 may be the last story they write. “Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air”, Henry Grunwald, former editor in chief of Time Magazine.

*the end*

[TheRealNorth]

1. They will write stories after the Red Hats make Trump the God King....

It will just be all bullshit and propaganda. But i suspect the best propagandists (or at least the best ass-kisser) will be well-rewarded for their supplication.

[live love laugh]

2. "Is" crumbling? It's been crumbling since the '80s and Raygun.

Newspapers have shrunk; disinformation is rampant and the newz cycle is primarily lead and bleed.

[FakeNoose]

3. The professional journalists got replaced by clumsy thumbs on cellphone screens

During the Dark Years of Chump, any high school dropout could convince himself (or herself) that he was smarter than the average American journalist. It's sad, but true. Nobody reads anything anymore, because they're all too busy typing & swiping on their phones.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

4. Cellphone screens! Not journalism, can never be! Take away the damn cell phones, Twitter

is an abomination in every way!

[zipplewrath]

5. It rarely existed.

The journalism most of us grew up with really only came into being after WWII. Before that, newspapers were owned and operated by people with a "point of view". Most large cities had multiple papers and they represented multiple points of view. And they were just as interested in profits as today's large media conglomerates. There was a time it was called "yellow journalism".

The big difference today is that there AREN'T multiple points of view in every town. There isn't really even all that much nationally at this point. Worse, what appears to be multiple points of view, is really controlled by central owners. Papers, radio, TV, and networks are all connected. And we now have people who do trainings on how to speak and answer questions while on TV and radio that obscure the facts. And strangely, there is now no consequence of being caught in a bald face lie.

[crickets]

6. K&R for the post and the discussion.

[KPN]

7. The 4th estate is and maybe has failed us, the people

who collectively make up our country and democracy.

[FSogol]

8. K&R n/t

[Ford_Prefect]

9. So it is not who counts the votes but whomever holds the truth hostage?

Oh my! What a dreary proposition that is. It could sour milk from ten paces,

[Hermit-The-Prog]

10. The 4th estate has been conglomerated to serve its rich masters, first.

The FCC rubberstamped mergers without regard to the effect on competition in media markets. Now, ratings and viewer share reign supreme. Having "pundits" shouting over each other with "alternate" facts gains more advertiser dollars than reporting news or informing the electorate.

Here's a story from March, 2016:
[link:https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-mammoth-advantage-in-free-media.html|$2 Billion Worth of Free Media for Donald Trump - The New York Times

TV has become useless for educating the electorate -- it promotes a horse race regardless of merits, in order to suck in the hundreds of millions of campaign ad dollars.

[DFW]

11. My father was a proud and distinguished member of that fourth estate

With the advent of Fox "News," he saw it start to deteriorate, and saw the danger signs as he was wasting away from pancreatic cancer in 2000. He was cited in the Congressional Record by members of BOTH parties for his dedication and fairness, and was elected to the presidency of the Washington Gridiron Club, one of the most strenuous--and fun--gigs a DC journalist can ever have. My siblings and I divvied up the letters and photos with inscriptions of appreciation when his memorabilia was given to us when he passed. From before Bobby Kennedy, Sr., a personal friend, to Bill Clinton, who was POTUS when he was Gridiron president, and a LOT of before and in-between, he never diverged from the path of the task of the journalist--to inform. Think what you want, but never lie--not to your readers. This has been trashed, perverted, abandoned. Maybe it's best that he never saw the full extent to which his profession has been transformed for the worst. He thought the low point had been reached right around the time he died, which was right before Rehnquist, O'Connor, Thomas and Scalia handed the presidency to Cheney and Bush, egged on by the increasingly right wing press. That might have hurt him worse than the cancer that killed him. A World War II vet, he probably handled his own demise far better than he could ever have handled the demise of his profession.

[calimary]

12. HAH! "Free" press.

That's a joke. A bad and incredibly sad "joke."

The rise of Pox Noise was the beginning of the end.



Anybody remember the 1976 movie "Network"? They lamented such a thing in that, as well.

"...and the news IS showbiz, Max."
- fictional TV network programming chief Diana Christensen, on her way to taking over the network's news division, to soon-to-be-ousted news division chief Max Schumacher. Christensen was played by Faye Dunaway, opposite William Holden as Schumacher. (One of my three all-time favorite movies, along with "A Hard Day's Night," and "2001: A Space Odyssey".)

[Mariana]

13. The free press exists to make money for the owners.