Whats your take on the role of mainstream media?

Question

Seems that it has become more and more a war for attention. Anything to attract more ratings, readers, listeners, rather than reporting relevant issues and holding politicians feet to the fire. At times even subservient to political power.

Answer 1

The Fourth Estate was at one time the watchdog for American society. Everything the government did was suspect, and the media questioned it, investigated it, and reported it only after thorough follow-up.
Today it's a ratings race dominated by the conservative-biased media which is nothing more than a propaganda machine for the Bush administration. Since beancounters run the media conglomerates these days, the "news" element is tightly constrained and budgeted. There's no such thing as "in-depth" reporting, thorough investigations, - not even a need for accuracy, truthfulness, balance, objectivity, clarity or completeness. The "news" departments simply read the government-prepared press releases without any skepticism or doubt.
Then there are the entertainment shows disguised as "news" broadcasts and commentary. Sub-humans such as Shawn Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulture, and Rush Limbaugh masquerade as respectable political analysts when they're nothing more than Nazi-inspired propagandists for the Republican party. These people are evil, capable of creating bigotry, bias, and hatred toward liberals, non-Christians and opponents of big government; just like the Nazis created fear and mistrust among neighbors during the pre-war Hitler regime, which resulted in the holocaust that slaughtered six million Jews. Sure, it's a war for attention. With billions of advertising dollars at stake, the mainstream media will prostitute itself for the sake of higher ratings. The 'big three' news shows are nothing more than half-hour commercials for their "magazine" shows such as Dateline NBC, 60 Minutes and 20/20.
And we gullible,stupid ditto heads swallow it all; just as the political pabulum is spoon-fed to us, we don't as questions or challenge the validity of the "news". We just buy into it and go to our computers to dutifully spread the gossip we just heard come from Katie Couric's pretty multi-million-dollar mouth. -RKO-

Answer 2

I think it is clear the media is set on setting policy in every facet of society while hiding under the umbrella of objectivity. Every night we hear of the number of soldiers killed without the number of insurgents or terrorists killed. Why? I know they are being slaughtered but that does not infuriate us. God forbid we start the nightly news with a story about children winning awards for reading or boys/girls-scouts restoring a vandalized park. Nobody cares about fires in California but the pictures are hard to not look at. If you want the real news watch CNBC or Bloomberg television and they will filter out all the BS. If it is life changing they will report on it; otherwise, they will talk about the economy and the market which is more important than what the presidents approval rating is day to day.

Answer 3

Most mainstream media are owned by conglomerates these days. And most businesses are run my extremely conservative people who support the status quo and Republican administrations. Therefore, the era of investigative reporting is largely over.

Answer 4

Let's face it, many people enjoy seeing other people being brutalized and killed. I think half the time, they can't distinguish between what's real and what isn't. It's all one big show to them. I don't like it, and I don't remember the time I last watched a news program on TV.

Answer 5

More nudity would get better ratings I think. I don't usually expect to actually learn things when I watch it. I just like to be entertained. They just want viewers and advertising dollars mostly.

Answer 6

Becoming more & more like the tabloids...
Fox is still the best but even they have declined...