Upvote Upvoted 0
2 responses
Yeah, I agree with most of what you said, but you are blaming the wrong people or organization(s).

You are blaming the media for their poor editorial coverage choices and that’s naive. Keep in mind that companies like CNN are BUSINESSES, and they have to MAKE MONEY TO STAY IN BUSINESS. The economic system is really to blame for this editorial mess, and we the people are to blame for this editorial coverage mess. Storms must pull in ratings, otherwise they wouldn’t show them so much. CNN will run any story that will pull in ratings, and ratings mean profits.

Let me simplify this for you with an analogy -- take hockey for example. The NJ Devils were blamed for destroying hockey during the 90s for the clutch and grab game play that they had perfected. NJ Devils were highly successful and won many championships but the hockey ratings declined as the game was boring to watch. My point here is don’t blame the NJ Devils (and subsequent copycat teams) for working their way around the rules and wrecking hockey, blame the NHL for setting up terrible rules in the first place. The NHL did rectify this and changed the rules of hockey, eliminating the clutch and grab, making the game more fun to the consumer, and subsequently increasing the ratings.

To simplify this even further companies in general don’t care what products or services they produce provided that they are making money. It is as simple as that. This economic system of reward fundamentally needs to change in order for problems like the one you clearly and rightly pointed out in your podcast are fixed (not band-aided).

Great podcast, keep it up... I detest CNN (the junkfood of news organizations), but respect Frontline, 60 Minutes, and the Fifth Estate generally (the main course).

— News is a Business
NiaB, thanks for listening.

I hoped that I conveyed dismay at the system as a whole, including the populace that blithely endures wave upon wave (pardon the pun) of infotainment.

I'm fully willing to acknowledge the culpability of the viewer and, further, the economic system of advertisers as gatekeepers.
That said, to simply give news networks the cop out of fiduciary responsibility doesn't float with me for one simple reason: they purport to be standard bearers of truth.

They wave the flag of journalistic responsibility and hold the craft of delivering news as gospel. There is an intrinsic hypocrisy to the evolution of punditry on news networks and the attempt to assert authority, which they do in abundance.

I'm willing chastize all involved, and over the past 323 episodes I probably have. It's the glaring examples of events like Hurricane Irene that helped to crystallize this example however.

That said, thanks again for listening and taking the time comment.

— anthony marco