US journalists face credibility gap

[seemslikeadream]

Patrick Barrett
Tuesday May 25, 2004

American journalism is suffering a crisis of confidence in the wake of high-profile reporting scandals at the New York Times and USA Today in which reporters were found to have fabricated a series of major news stories.
A growing number of American journalists working for national newspapers and magazines believe they lack credibility with the public and that their news stories are increasingly "full of factual errors" according to a new study of the profession.

The findings are likely to resonate with newspaper and broadcast news editors in the UK, in the wake of the Daily Mirror's admission that it ran a series of front page splash stories based on faked photos of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers.

The research by The Pew Research Centre, which conducts a survey of US journalists' opinions every five years, found that almost 40% of national print journalists believe credibility with the public is the biggest challenge facing the media industry in the US.

more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1224129,00....

[Cooley Hurd]

1. A step in the right direction (for the NYT) would be to...

...FIRE JUDITH MILLER!!!

[seemslikeadream]

2. You woke up my turtle alg0912!

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Whoops! Give Cecil my apologies...

...it's just that I hate Judith Miller - the worst neocon whore of them all!

[Just Me]

6. *giggle* n/t

[seemslikeadream]

8. That was my first reaction, Just

but Judith was a favorite and now I have to deal with a depressed, sleep deprived turtle!

[Jacobin]

11. And Tom Friedman and David Brooks

Their columns are laughable piffle.

[Crachet2004]

4. Well geewhiz, if they would just stop their GODDAMN LYING support...

for everything GOP, then maybe they would have a little credibility.

Americans are smartening up, finally, that reporters report whatever the guy who signs their paychecks WANTS them to report! If you do not tow the line, you are simply...GONE...just like in every other corporate dictatorship in this country.

That is why Americans are beginning to put more faith in what someone by the name of Gobaz1901 on the internet says than they do Tom Brokaw. Hey! Gobaz don't lie! He (or she) is swimming in this world of shit along side me...and if they DO lie, some other such outlandishly named persona will be sure to point it out!

It is truly said 'if I control the information getting to you, I control YOU'. Too bad that the controls are coming unwrapped, with the advent of the internet.

Too bad for liars everywhere, that is.

[ixion]

5. The US media should be held accountable

for enabling BushCo's ugly little war. The sacarificed ALL credibility when they voluntarily became cheerleaders for the WH, and parroted its lies.

[havocmom]

7. We need a 'spin around and faint' smilie

cuz sometimes , , , , and just don't do it.

[jmcgowanjm]

9. 12122000/091101-HumptyDumpty Moment

http://www.cosmicpenguin.com/911/Eastman/m18h05.html

What the USMedia cannot do:

Deal with the people of the Middle East and the basis of
equality and respect. Stop interfering in the politics and
economy of the region. Discontinue the practice of
supporting reactionary regimes and destroying progressive
and leftist movements and governments. Instead of
spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the "war
on terrorism", invest that money in repairing the damage
caused by over 50 years of intervention, oppression
and exploitation in the region. Get out of Iraq now and
permit these beleaguered people to resolve their own
problems. Stop military interventions and close down
the Pentagon's many military bases in the region. Adopt
a balanced stance vis-a-vis the Palestine-Israel
question, starting with the demand - backed by the threat
of withdrawing Washington's annual subsidy, if necessary -
that Sharon withdraw all troops and settlements from the occupied territories.

http://tbrnews.org/Archives/a912.htm

One recently released detainee said, "The Americans
brought electricity to my ass before they brought it to my
house!"

http://www.newsdissector.org/weblog/dannylog.cfm

[Vogon_Glory]

10. After Presstitution For Bush, They Think They've Got Credibility?!?!

After over three years of prostituting themselves to the Bush administration, the men and women of the American press think they've got a credibility problem? How come it's taking them so long to see the obvious?

The media whores sold themselves out to the Republican Party and corporate interests even before the Clinton administration. These days Americans seeking the real news are forced to surf the Internet and read foreign news feeds because our journalistic establishment decided to serve as compliant party girls to the Republican Party and Big Business. I very much resent having to read my newspaper the same way I used to read Pravda or Granma and read the articles not for what they say, but for what they don't say, either.

[0007]

12. Wow! This is a story within itself!

"The vast majority of reporters - 86% - now believe commercial pressures have meant the US news media avoid complex issues, 50% feel that the growth of 24-hour news services has weakened journalism, 56% believe the country's press is too timid and 52% believe reporting is "increasingly sloppy".

The report echoes serious concerns raised about bias in US TV news reports during the conflict in Iraq, with 55% of national journalists saying the media has not been critical enough of the Bush administration, compared with 24% of the general public."

[seemslikeadream]

13. Are you careful what you say or write?

[Just Me]

14. They EARNED their "credibility gap"!!!!

I essentially quit media news well over 18 months ago when the Busholini war propaganda was soooo freakin' obvious (at least to anyone who bothered to pay attention).

We should give them "credibility gap" medals made of stone.

[Lou_C]

15. That is so hard to believe because they are the "Liberal Media"

I can't believe that someone would write an article about them being biased towards Bush. The media was so supportive during the elections towards Al Gore.



I am just kidding.

[gratuitous]

16. Notice this a Guardian story

Nothing like this could get wide publication on this side of the Atlantic. Color me whomper-jawed that the media sold out its credibility for the appearance of "access" and so they could attend non-celebratory parties with equally vapid persons.

The question is, how do they plan to retrieve their professionalism? Or is it just gone forever, leaving behind nothing but the appendectomy scar?

[info being]

17. That story has no credibility

The problem isn't the handful of factual errors, it is the pro-billionaire slant and spin. This artical attempts to cover up the real issue. Just another example of why I get my news elsewhere.

[funnymanpants]

18. Exactly

You read my mind.

Look at fair.org or even better, mediamatters.org. Both sites point out a pattern of serious mis-representation that goes beyond a few reporters fabricating stories now and then.

The biggest problem is that the reporters feel the need to repeat what those in power say. I mean, if Pres. Bush said tomorrow "I think the earth is flat," the headlines would read:

Debate Over Shape of Earth.

(I stole this line from Paul Krugman!)

[swinney]

19. Mush Dimbaugh and his 10,400 LIES

He claimed FAIR had edited 4,000 hours of his transcripts and found 45 little errors.

It extrapolated to 10,400 Lies-intent to deceive.

[Don_G]

20. They Were Lazy

In a lot of cases and depended on the source being investegated for the facts.

Well, if you ask me, Woodward and Bernstein, that just dosen't work a lot of times. Hving the "news" treated and used by the corporate entertainment industry as "entertainment" dosen't help matters either.

It just, plain sucks.

[Dulcinea]

21. American journalism really started to go down the tubes when...

...news was expected to make money for the corporate owners & stockholders rather than perform a public service or inform the audience.