What happened to journalistic integrity and impartiality?

Question

"Just the facts, ma'am"

Journalists were at one time supposed to report the news. As it happened without prejudice.

When and how did being a journalist become political?

Answer 1

You must be joking!!! Journalists have never been impartial. The whole function of the media is to mislead. Anybody who thinks otherwise has a great deal to learn.

Answer 2

A journalist is an employee, and a recent court case between two reporters and Fox News resulted in a ruling that said the reporters must change their stories, and the facts they uncovered to suit the employer's or editor's demands.

Management now has the undisputed right to omit facts, kill news stories, present propaganda as news, and basically make things up from whole cloth - lie through their teeth when they choose to.

Fox News didn't even attempt to hide their decisions to demand that facts be omitted, that they made the reporters write their stories to the editor's demands, and inserted non-facts and misleading information into their stories from the court - in fact, they admitted that the plaintiff's complaint was true, and that they had a right to do so, and still won!

The major media outlets are controlled by about five people who run the mass media for about five giant news conglomerates that bought out their competition. So, reporters no longer have any independence left, because they can no longer make the claim that they are objective.

The era of the autonomous news anchor died with Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace, and David Brinkley - dead and buried because of severe media concentration. Modern "news anchors" simply have no objectivity because they neither have strong unions ,or high ratings clout, to be able to make their demands effective.

Answer 3

After JFK was assassinated, our then local paper in Palm Bch. county FL continued to produce news as though he were still alive.
With the gradual failure and mergers of news media companies, into conglomerates, which are owned by Democrats, the change to bias reporting crept over the country.
Fox news, the Christian Science Monitor and Wall Street Journal are perhaps the most "right on with the news" in that there is an alternative point of view given. Bias, maybe?

Answer 4

Everything seemed to have gone wrong around 1980. It even appears that the 80s ushered in the era of opinion news, versus factual news.

This is also the time that, unlike with the Nixon scandal where reporters dug deeply for the truth, news stations decided that it was OK for a president to break the law, ie, Iran-Contra.

Its possible that stations became opinion news as a consequence of Vietnam War reporting.

Answer 5

I would say, when CNN became a predominant force in news. Now, that may sound like a knock, but the idea behind CNN was sound. I respect the idea of CNN, not the idealogy that has permiated it in the recent decade. But, when cable news began being a force to be reckoned with, all journalism began to be sensationalism and political rhetoric and lost a lot of integrity.

I tend to stay away from network and cable news because of that. I'll watch Fox News or CNN when they present something that interests me. But I tend to keep away from them.

Answer 6

journalistic integrity and impartiality? Is that a mixed drink, or something you eat?

Answer 7

Gross how the journalists of today are just Liberal hate spouters instead of news reporters! Not sure when or how it hapened but can imagine its been going on for years!

Answer 8

You are reading my mind again! I asked something similar recently, and received no good answers.

There should be complete NEWS reporting--and there should be investigative reporting. Seems we get neither!

Answer 9

dunno.

Ask Amy Goodman and Bill Maher.

And then, tell us how George Stephanopolous can interview Hillary Clinton and appear objective.

Answer 10

It never existed.. it's a myth propagated by the same journalists you're bashing now. They have ALWAYS pushed their personal agenda... ALWAYS.