Dear Media and Press! Enough bad Journalism for one Election

 

 

I remember the time when we got our first TV in the 70’s. It was a showcase, a decoration piece in our living room; we only turned it on in the evenings.  There weren’t too many channels back then, we had ORF I and II, the Austrian TV stations, we could get the German channels ZDF and ARD on clear days and we watched Rai the Italian TV station.

At 8 pm in the evening, that’s when we gathered in the living room, my Grandmother and I sat on the couch and listened to the news. It always started with international news, then there was national news. There wasn’t much local news mentioned on TV that’s what the smaller, daily newspapers were for.

I knew the names of different Prime ministers and Presidents, I met the Royal Families in our living room (yes, there is more than one) and I learned about different countries and their problems. To be honest I was better informed back then, than I am today.

I went to my workroom first thing in the morning and I turned on the TV, because I didn’t have too much time to watch the news during our garage sale weekend.

I started with CNN, even though by now I should know better. I managed to listen until 11 am and then I had to turn it off, because my throat started to hurt. They try so hard to shuffle Donald Trump down my throat, I started gagging.

I changed the channel, not that it helped in any form or way. The rest of the world must have been swallowed by a gigantic whale or something like that, because there is hardly any mentioning of it. It is election talk from morning to evening U.S. only, the rest of the world seems to be none existing. I feel like they are trying to dumb me down and I am just not ready for it (yet). I am still interested in facts, and I am still capable to come to my own conclusions, what means I am not easily manipulated.

Is that what the problem is?  Am I too interested and too informed for today’s journalism?

“Trump said this,” and “Trump said that.” Who cares? I don’t, just in case you wonder. The constant mentioning of his name in the press and media won’t make me like him more; neither will it make me like him less. I don’t care if his own party is flip-flopping all over the place, I am not like that. That’s their problem not mine.

I want to be informed, not manipulated. I want to know what is going on in the world, not just on days when there are disasters or attacks that take human lives. I want to be informed at ALL TIMES and preferably here in the United States because that would come in really handy. (Thank you BBC for making my life easier-please don’t go anywhere).

I turned the TV off, because there is just too much talk, made me a sandwich and ate it in front of my computer (I know, it’s a bad habit.) I went to the New York Times and found it was as bad. They are trying to convince me since months that Bernie Sanders is losing over and over, even though he is winning state after state. They try to shuffle Hillary Clinton down my throat (I get it, I did see the donation button) and they are not successful with it either. GO BERNIE!

I want facts; it’s as simple as that. We have smart phones, computers, tablets and notebooks -today we can research the shit out of everything (sorry, figure of speech). The young generation is smart and we, the older once we weren’t village idiots either.

What happened to good journalism? Where is it buried, because I would like to send some flowers in remembrance of good old days?

Today it’s sensationalism not journalism. It’s all about ratings and polls even though they are never accurate to begin with.

I mean this is the part I actually get. Trump is a ratings machine. Having someone like Trump running for President -and if worse comes to worse even winning- that’s hysterical and humorous. I can’t wait to see who he will pick as Vice President and I cross my fingers and hope for a Kardashian (even though I don’t really know what a Kardashian is).

I feel manipulated and it makes me sad. Maybe it’s just me and my expectations are too high?  Maybe I am  too complicated?

I totally blame the media for the rise of Donald Trump. They didn’t take him serious when they should have, they didn’t ask the right question when it all started. (No, I don’t mean you Chris Matthews you did your homework >>>youtube<<<).

The media boosts Donald Trump on a daily base, because ratings bring money, but that’s not how democracy should work. The screwed Bernie Sanders right from the start, hardly mentioned him, until they had to because the voters chose him over Hillary over and over. That’s when he was mentioned, but mostly as a looser. A winning looser, how confusing is that?

Trump has been wildly successful because he is the latest effective practitioner of cultural politics; in fact, as a veteran of reality TV, he’s made for that medium’s entertainment pitch. As CBS CEO Leslie Moonves put it back in February, “it may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS….  [B]ring it on, Donald, go ahead, keep going.” Moonves’ critique of Trump as not “good for America” reflects the elite, ideological side of mass media; his “good for CBS” reflects the financially driven cultural side. (Source Salon)

Maybe I am wrong and a Presidency can be bought these days, maybe my worst fear will come true and the media will get want they want. As they said, it might not be good for America, but it will be good for the ratings. So maybe we will get a President Trump because money rules and big business rules? (Oops middle class bend over, you will get screwed again).

Sad when you think about it, really sad, but then what do I konnw?