#2// Creditability

I wanted to blog for a quick second on something that last weeks group only briefly touched on: news creditability. As I said last week, all first-rate reporters and journalists strive for the truth, and the only way to gain that viability is to find & credit yours sources – although the following clip seems to defy all that and explain why some news… just isn’t the truth. At least, that’s what some people say. 

The JFK Assassination was one of the first events that established creditability in the news, as it created the idea of “continuous coverage.” The general public completely leaned on broadcast news and entirely believed this coverage because it was their primary source of knowledge – it was all they had, and because no one person knew more than the next, they assumed it to be true. At the time of JFK assassination, you could rely on media to get the straight facts… but now? What’s happened? And what’s to blame?

I guess I could point fingers way back before the 1941 broadcast journalism beginning, and talk about the “stunt journalism” days, where if there wasn’t anything exciting to be told… they created something to be told. The reach is still the same, all journalists are yearning to write something that yearns to be read… but when they don't cite sources, don't hold creditable interviews, and then chop, rearrange, opinionate and punctuate the facts to make a "news-worthy" story... then it's just turning cantaloupes to antelopes. I mean, according to the following article, “Currently, about two-in-ten say they believe all or most information from ABC News (21%), CBS News (21%) and NBC News (20%)”. Well, that’s pathetic.

http://www.people-press.org/2010/09/12/section-5-news-media-credibility/

So what news can we rely on? And how can we weed out the facts from the fiction?

Anyway, just your daily reminder that's it hard to trust anything anymore! 

Uplifting way to start your weekend, right?

Happy Friday, ya'll!