http://www.politico.com/news/m...lism-swagger-00154659
>> Wounded and limping, doubting its own future, American journalism seems to be losing a quality that carried it through a century and a half of trials: its swagger.

Swagger is the conformity-killing practice of journalism, often done in defiance of authority and custom, to tell a true story in its completeness, no matter whom it might offend. It causes some people to subscribe and others to cancel their subscriptions, and gives journalists the necessary courage and direction to do their best work. Swagger was once journalism's calling card, but in recent decades it's been sidelined. In some venues, reporters now do their work with all the passion of an accountant, and it shows in their guarded, couched and equivocating copy. Instead of relishing controversy, today's newsrooms shy away from publishing true stories that someone might claim cause "harm" - that modern term that covers all emotional distress - or even worse, which could offend powerful interests....

... Reason magazine's Nick Gillespie blames the decline of swagger, in part, to generational forces.

"Millennials and Gen Z have been bred like human veal by their Boomer and Gen X parents who made sure their kids were constantly being surveilled and optimized for success in SATs, sports and entry into the Establishment pipeline," he says. "Can we be surprised that such a system has produced generations of journalists who endlessly describe anything they disagree with as misinformation and want to control and regulate everything like the room temperature in an after-school enrichment program?"...<<

It's a long read, which is also a throwback in and of itself to an attention we have clipped in our fast moving click world, but it's worth it.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

It's pretty hard to be a swaggering journalist when you also like to eat food and live indoors.

In the old days, journalists were backed by strong publishers; today there are are few left and they control basically all the local papers. That's why you'll often see the same corporate friendly stories published across the country.

Tribune, Gannett, Hearst - their goal is to maximize shareholder wealth for their hedge fund owners. Scott Maxwell goes off about it every once in awhile. In fact, he's one guy who still maybe has some old school swagger.


EDIT: For local independent journalism I'd recommend Robert Burns and the Space Coast Rocket (online).

http://thespacecoastrocket.com/

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"Hey, where's Cricket?" - Kristi Noem's daughter.

Edited: 05/06/2024 at 07:52 AM by RustyTruck

The internet is a growing pain that journalism has yet to move on from.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

The problem is much simpler. Most cannot be trusted anymore. Lying to the public is not calculated to result in success in the news business.

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I :heart; Q

On the contrary, telling the most rapid and ignorant assholes what they want to hear seems to an extremely profitable endeavor.

Telling the truth? Not so much.

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"Hey, where's Cricket?" - Kristi Noem's daughter.

The outrage machine doesn't use the truth for infotainment.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.