This week, my community's been reminded of one of the consequences of local journalism's declining presence and power: a lack of accountability among government bodies.
1. Obama used the Espionage Act against journalists more than any prior President.
2. It's not just our elected official that must be held to account. Equally important are the unaccountable bureaucrats in the vast administrative state. For instance, Dr David Morens, senior advisor to Dr. Anthony Fauci, actually instructing his colleagues how to avoid FOIAs and mislead the people's representatives. I mean here is a man, whose salary was paid by the taxpayer, and he felt no obligation to the very people who employed him.
3. And of course the total gullibility and lack of interest of the legacy press when the first hint of the "Lab Leak" arose. I remember. I was up close and personal with the virus. And I bought into the lie that the "Lab Leak" was a mere right wing conspiracy. End of story. Nothing to see here. Total abrogation of curiosity and journalistic standards in the biggest health care catastrophe in my lifetime. Rather than acting as the valued fourth estate, the legacy press acted as a government spokesperson. When The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2 was published in Nature Medicine 2020, not a ONE f'n question from the journalists in the legacy press. Cricketts. Absolute disgrace, IMHO.
4. But it's not just big government (or even small) that need watching. Hey if it wasn't for the investigative journalism of the WSJ, Elizabeth Holmes - deified by the NY Times by the way - and her make believe Theranos Co. may have caused untold harm to tens of thousands of people.
5. I recognize that investigative journalism as exemplified by the above WSJ investigation of Theranos is very very expensive and fraught with potential litigation concerns, but the decline in journalism of you speak, in part, was brought upon by themselves.
The news business has become too politically skewed and that is finishing off what the Internet began. Smaller audiences resulted in coverage geared to keep the remaining engaged. Not too sure how some places stay in business. You can see it most all of the old newspapers. No diagrams, avoiding many topics, no columnists to speak of and poor coverage of anything other than what comes in on the wire. Can't say it'd have turned out any differently as the Internet has become an equal opportunity job killer.
Regarding adaptive cruise, I like it for the adjusting to other autos and I hate mine because it reads speed signs and changes the speed that it is ultimately set for. On the open highway, I don't need that. I can figure that out on my own.
Huge fan of adaptive cruise control. It no longer bothers me if the guy in front of me is going three miles per hour slower than I am because the car has just adapted itself to the new normal. Not sure I want the feature on my son's new car, though. When he reaches the block he lives on the car announces "looking for a parking spot" and then pulls itself in, likity-split.
This is an important piece of analysis and the tie in to your local newspaper is poetic. Thank you. For my news beyond NYT and SF Chronicle (pretty much only subscribe to be ANNOYED) I am impressed with Heather Cox Richardson’s letters and the New Yorker’s blurb in the front of every issue, and here in Oakland, Oaklandside is phenomenal for local insight and participation. I think we elders need to guide the youngers to demand good, broad, thoughtful coverage of all civics. Your school board example is terrific!! (Book suggestion, They Came For The Schools, beautifully written by a journalist Mike Hixenbaugh, current and deep analysis of how easy it is to mislead folks who are not used to following what’s going on in local government) I have true respect for politicians who teach the issues and keep the factual updates coming. Final point, have you checked out YouTube Channel 5 journalist, Andrew Callaghan? I am pretty impressed. Thanks for the insights into media and political transparency
I feel so frustrated that we don’t have a way of getting truthful news, something that many of us depended on with newspapers and TV news in the old days. Today it’s Substack and I have subscribed to people I think I can trust but honestly reading or listening to Substack has become a full 8 + hours a day. I really can’t handle that much now. It’s too much. Any suggestions?
One entity that I've been aware of for about five years is called AllSides.com. I've not dug that much into their website/operations, but it may be a good resource to prevent from getting too much into a bubble on either end of the spectrium.
1. Obama used the Espionage Act against journalists more than any prior President.
2. It's not just our elected official that must be held to account. Equally important are the unaccountable bureaucrats in the vast administrative state. For instance, Dr David Morens, senior advisor to Dr. Anthony Fauci, actually instructing his colleagues how to avoid FOIAs and mislead the people's representatives. I mean here is a man, whose salary was paid by the taxpayer, and he felt no obligation to the very people who employed him.
3. And of course the total gullibility and lack of interest of the legacy press when the first hint of the "Lab Leak" arose. I remember. I was up close and personal with the virus. And I bought into the lie that the "Lab Leak" was a mere right wing conspiracy. End of story. Nothing to see here. Total abrogation of curiosity and journalistic standards in the biggest health care catastrophe in my lifetime. Rather than acting as the valued fourth estate, the legacy press acted as a government spokesperson. When The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2 was published in Nature Medicine 2020, not a ONE f'n question from the journalists in the legacy press. Cricketts. Absolute disgrace, IMHO.
4. But it's not just big government (or even small) that need watching. Hey if it wasn't for the investigative journalism of the WSJ, Elizabeth Holmes - deified by the NY Times by the way - and her make believe Theranos Co. may have caused untold harm to tens of thousands of people.
5. I recognize that investigative journalism as exemplified by the above WSJ investigation of Theranos is very very expensive and fraught with potential litigation concerns, but the decline in journalism of you speak, in part, was brought upon by themselves.
The news business has become too politically skewed and that is finishing off what the Internet began. Smaller audiences resulted in coverage geared to keep the remaining engaged. Not too sure how some places stay in business. You can see it most all of the old newspapers. No diagrams, avoiding many topics, no columnists to speak of and poor coverage of anything other than what comes in on the wire. Can't say it'd have turned out any differently as the Internet has become an equal opportunity job killer.
Regarding adaptive cruise, I like it for the adjusting to other autos and I hate mine because it reads speed signs and changes the speed that it is ultimately set for. On the open highway, I don't need that. I can figure that out on my own.
Solid, Matt. "No, the truly unduly burdensome task these days is on journalism outlets trying to hold government bodies to account."
Huge fan of adaptive cruise control. It no longer bothers me if the guy in front of me is going three miles per hour slower than I am because the car has just adapted itself to the new normal. Not sure I want the feature on my son's new car, though. When he reaches the block he lives on the car announces "looking for a parking spot" and then pulls itself in, likity-split.
This is an important piece of analysis and the tie in to your local newspaper is poetic. Thank you. For my news beyond NYT and SF Chronicle (pretty much only subscribe to be ANNOYED) I am impressed with Heather Cox Richardson’s letters and the New Yorker’s blurb in the front of every issue, and here in Oakland, Oaklandside is phenomenal for local insight and participation. I think we elders need to guide the youngers to demand good, broad, thoughtful coverage of all civics. Your school board example is terrific!! (Book suggestion, They Came For The Schools, beautifully written by a journalist Mike Hixenbaugh, current and deep analysis of how easy it is to mislead folks who are not used to following what’s going on in local government) I have true respect for politicians who teach the issues and keep the factual updates coming. Final point, have you checked out YouTube Channel 5 journalist, Andrew Callaghan? I am pretty impressed. Thanks for the insights into media and political transparency
Matt,
YOU can come up with an innovative solution. Take your experience and add passion.
There must be a way!!
I feel so frustrated that we don’t have a way of getting truthful news, something that many of us depended on with newspapers and TV news in the old days. Today it’s Substack and I have subscribed to people I think I can trust but honestly reading or listening to Substack has become a full 8 + hours a day. I really can’t handle that much now. It’s too much. Any suggestions?
One entity that I've been aware of for about five years is called AllSides.com. I've not dug that much into their website/operations, but it may be a good resource to prevent from getting too much into a bubble on either end of the spectrium.
https://www.allsides.com/about/editorial-philosophy has more info
Thank you Matt.