If journalism schools are not corrupt how did the media get to this point?

[wuushew]

People who go into the news are the product of going into journalism education correct? Since I have never believed in any sort of left-wing bias in journalism what is responsible for the shift from moderate to corporate whore flavoring in the todays media?

Is it that conservative viewpoints are cherry picked and promoted internally or is the whole system been turned towards the right from classroom to newsroom?

[Maple]

1. I know you won't believe this

but the mainstream media by itself is neither left nor right.

They support the party in power.

Whichever one it is.

[wuushew]

4. But journalism teaches ethics and fairness in reporting

Where is evidence of that in today's news? In my mind it seemed to get much worse after 1994.

[sangha]

6. So do law schools

Just because they teach it doesn't mean the students learn it.

[nannygoat]

13. How do you explain the 1990s? n/t

[sirshack]

2. My J school was certainly not conservative....

...so I don't know how it happens....

[RandomKoolzip]

3. The CIA "owns" many prominent journalists.

Bob Woodward, for instance.

[SeattleDem]

5. the influence of the workplace

more so than influence in schools. If you want to keep your job after graduation, you do what your bosses want. You can be a complete idealist in school, but the real world is often quite different.

[m_h_lovecraft]

8. Agreed.

You make an active choice to work for The Man. Typically economic decision making. The corporate megastructures control the news content -- a truly independent journalist is often a fast food employee or bartender on the side.

[Clete]

7. I have noticed a derth of real journalists in the media.

Sometimes if you take your time to read the profiles of prominent media personalities, especially in the entertainment medias of radio and television, there isn't a journalism degree in sight.

[stopthegop]

9. seems to me you can be a journalist without a J degree.

if all you do is research and report facts...

[jedicord]

10. My Journalism Major

From my experience, journalism schools are corrupt. One of my beats for the school paper was the Psychology Dept. I wrote a story on the mistreatment of their lab animals, it got scratched and I was told to only report on psy club events.

Then I was sent to write a story on the new handicapped housing. I attended several planning meetings, began writing the story about how silly it was that it was being built at the top of a hill with the busiest street in town at the bottom. Guess what happened to THAT story?

Another student wrote a bad review of a play presented by the drama department. This student was actually kicked off the paper.

I was so disenchanted, I quit the paper (not my brightest move).

This was 20 years ago.

[Octafish]

11. Ben Bagdikian talked about the "Media Monopoly"

... in the late 1970s. The guy warned us that the corporations were taking over what had been the most democratic of institutions — a free press.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media/MediaMonopoly_Bagdikian.html

[SharonAnn]

12. The media owners are corrupt.

That's the answer.