Among what Sherry Turkle said in her interview on cbc.ca: people are gettings news from websites that feed them only news that might make them happy... and every

one who swallows that model, without contacting... e.g. Facebook, has fallen down in recognition of what their role, as a responsable customer, entails.

blue_rose said

Maybe this is the future for writers, but I do wonder if journalists are being slowly replaced by freelancers and bloggers looking for publicity. That WOULD affect the accuracy of the news.  

It is has been happening already for years in our small market, that, however, used to feed quite a sizeable press. People in Nordic Countries were, and still are, big readers. I majored in Film And Television / Media Studies back in the day, and about half of my class went to journalism. I would have gone to journalism, if I had ever had guts to take the first step and go to some publisher to propose my pieces. But I became quite happy that I didn't. Very few  of my friends have had a steady contract since circa 2008. The Global Financial Crisis killed the add sales for about a year, and this was used as an excuse to get rid of the editing staff. Digitalization, too. Two of the people with a steady job in the industry - my best childhood friend and someone I first "met" online circa 2002, are legit journalists, when you discuss with them in private, they have very profound knowledge on "hard news",  but have been doing lifestyle/entertainment news.

But I don't know. I want to keep the faith on there being people like many of us here, who crew up news junkies, and remember how journalism used to be to, to begin a counterstrike. Also, young adults, who never saw this, and think it's a fresh approach.  Look at where Television was going only 10 years ago. It was Reality shows, and Sopranos, basically. You couldn't have gotten shows like GOT or Westworld, which are very high concept, even if you paid for a cable access.

The New York Times' woke newsroom have taken over the OPINION pages and forced the retraction of a published op-ed piece by Tom Cotton. There will be no opposing opinion? Good Lord. The editor had to resign. So everyone is safe from considering any other perspective lol. 

I think that Pluto killed what wasn't viable already, but, like a mud-slide, it wiped out more than a few avenues for truthful reporters.  Investigative journalism was severely injured, and hasn't yet made a full recovery.

In the wake of that time, we learned that some news purveyors who were widely admired and trusted by the public, were eligible for criminal arrest - or the moral equivalent, if the laws in place at the time didn't cover their specific abuses. (The examples have blurred from my memory.  I don't want to look them up just now.)

At the same time, it seemed like everyone was on a bandwagon of ''I feel...''.  For a time, people could say offensive, hurtful things, which magically became socially acceptable when prefaced with those two words.  ''How do you feel about that,'' flourished, in media and in the general public - surveys, public forums, etc. - for matters that would have better asked, ''What do you think?''  Asked, ''Is the security system you're selling effective?'' a saleman said, oh, well, really what people are paying for is feeling safe.   Neptune was in Libra - and Neptune shows widespread trends in society.  I think that the two, and , contributed to a shift from news media informing the public - with facts - to so many of them acting as though their purpose is to entertain.  Not every one, thankfully.  There are journalists who do understand the importance of reporting accurately.  Who have said that they see a gap, a need for investigative reporting, e.g. 

I don't get any curated news (news selected for me by... whatever).  Beyond what editors & producers do, in deciding what gets broadcast to the general public.  All involved have their personal biases, inevitably, still - as always.  (An example: otherwise conscientious journalists took more time and effort to tell everyone about the reopening of golf courses and tennis courts, than they - same individuals - shared information useful to people whose budgets are small.  They forget that their audience includes people living very simply, by necessity.  Sorry, it annoys me.  All the more because I know they, as most others, are interacting in social bubbles even smaller than before.)

I think that like new growth after a forest fire, real journalism still exists, and will spread.  It would be helped by fewer clicks on ''news'' links that are dubious.  ''Don't encourage them!'' ** said the former journalist I'd been waiting for, as he put the magazine I was looking at back in its stand, and steered me toward the door.  The cashier looked shocked, but I would have wanted to say to her, ''This, exactly, is why it matters to choose wisely who we want among friends...''  (I was fascinated by an inane article about twelve turns of phrase to Never Use... my mind was boggling... - why? whaaat? - but he was right, better to not encourage garbage.)

** Said in 2008, during the months that Pluto was back in Sagittarius, due to retrograde-then-direct-again, after entering Capricorn briefly, early in the year.

I don't miss Pluto in Sagittarius.