Reconsidering News Avoidance: "Big News" Is Still Critical

Similarly according to findings from Gallup39s 2018 quotConfidence in Institutionsquot report television news was ranked as the second least trusted of all quotsocietal institutionsquot in the United States beating out only Congress Distrust in the news media is more pronounced among those who selfidentify as quotconservativequot but a full 54 percent of Democrats were also found to have an unfavorable view of news media And as of late an everincreasing share of Americans are shutting out news particularly political news altogether in this emergent phenomenon of quotnews avoidancequotObviously much of the commentary regarding the news media tends to take a critical tone something also very true of political commentary And that39s as it should be amp8212 to encourage continuous improvement But this tendency invariably leaves us sometimes taking the positives for grantedSo amid the doom and gloom regarding the news media particularly when it comes to corporate and legacy news outlets a few words in their defense are warrantedRealTime and Resourceful Accessible and quotInfotainingquotAs political philosopher Matt McManus recently wrote quotRapid innovations in communications technology and new media have made it so that any individual can access more knowledge at their fingertips than prior generations could have by traveling to the world39s most esteemed centers of learningquot This new reality is thanks in part to the tremendous informationgathering arms of wellfunded news organizations Their resources allow for uptotheminute updates from war zones to the floor of the New York Stock ExchangeThe news media then presents this tremendous amount of information in a manner that is digestible engaging and in many cases strikingly memorable Although I frequently criticize the degree to which news organizations err on the side of entertaining versus informing and I stand by every word unlike WikiLeaks39 documentdump style of reporting there is something to be said for making news accessibleThen sometimes the major outlets get content choices especially correct One example that comes to mind involves CNN39s United Shades of America and environmental concerns in Chester Pennsylvania For nearly a decade the environmental activists and scientists I knew in Philadelphia would bemoan the lack of media coverage of a situation they believed to be urgent the presence of various pollutantgenerating waste treatment plants in an economically disadvantaged city whose residents didn39t have the resources to lobby effectively for change Finally in June 2019 W Kamau Bell came to town and told the story And knowing how journalism works once CNN covered it so did everyone else in the area from The Philadelphia Inquirer to WHYY Now this issue amp8212 long followed closely only by environmental activists in the know amp8212 is very much in the purview of the general publicSimilarly it39s often the corporate news organizations that have the resources to report from just about anywhere Although broadcast journalist Byron Pitts39 memoir Step Out on Nothing might have been intended to be an account of how he overcame illiteracy and a difficult relationship with his father to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a correspondent on CBS39s 60 Minutes a different point stayed with me the reminder of how organizations such as CBS enable their correspondents to report from the most trying of times and places Pitts for instance describes how CBS was able to maintain numerous makeshift reporting stations in wartorn Afghanistan amp8212 after having done the same in stormravaged Central America in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 For many of the wellfunded news organizations this idea of quotGoing Where Others Don39tquot is often trueOrdinarily these reminders about the role large news organizations play might seem superfluous so obvious that they barely warrant being mentioned However as the 2010s draw to a close amp8212 a decade that has helped make criticizing nearly every major institution or status quo in America into a pastime amp8212 large news organizations have faced their fair share of critique Although many of these criticisms ought to stand they must also be kept in proportionAnd for those who frequently draw attention to the best projects in quotnew mediaquot it is worth keeping in mind that these ventures should be best viewed as complements rather than replacements for networks and newspapers of record The longstanding standardbearers in news media remain after all the departure points for these projects amp8212 and nearly all define themselves in referenceThe solution to the growing dissatisfaction with news media likely lies with reconsidering how we as a society view the largest corporate news organizations The wording of the one Gallup study says it all when it categorizes news media as a quotsocietal institutionquotAs the journalist Kambiz Tavana has also sensed many of the frustrations with news organizations stem from the public viewing them as disinterested third parties primarily committed to serving the public rather than what they are businesses Like any business the products they provide are good and useful in some respects and less than ideal in others And in those places where they fall short that39s where the quotnew mediaquot projects amp8212 for profit or otherwise amp8212 are thriving more and moreClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | REGISTER FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

Reconsidering News Avoidance: "Big News" Is Still Critical

Author

Publish date

Channel

Erich J. Prince

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | REGISTER FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

Reconsidering News Avoidance: "Big News" Is Still Critical

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Erich J. Prince

Cookies