death of the local voice

In my parents' day, and when I was growing up, we had local newspapers who functioned to inform, promote debate and offer business services to its advertisers. Some towns found that the free market could support multiple newspapers, promoting even more discussion and offering opposing viewpoints outside the others bubble. We saw periods of racist and yellow journalism, as well as periods that moved society forward. We saw print standards raised, lowered and raised again as journalism was born and reborn to fit the times. Publishers were the gatekeepers of both truth or lie, and Americans were free to believe either. 

TV News burst on the scene at about the same time I did, and I imagine newsrooms across the country laughed it off. Or maybe they panicked. TV News threatened to push the fast- forward button on THEIR process. They may have laughed once they saw the bulky equipment needed to produce a nascent broadcast on location. Except more equipment followed, and it got smaller, lighter and faster. Print reporters weren’t laughing anymore. They found themselves chained to a desk watching        B&W TV news broadcasts, writing stories from a competitors live video, rotary telephone calls. Damn finger holes.

To catch up, the print gatekeepers began to open the gate just a little more. ‘ ...It couldn't hurt and it will help us stay competitive...’ , they told themselves. But the media market was too hot. Stories got more sensational and shaded facts to gain readership. They fed off the immediacy of television and skirted principles for circulation and advertising bucks. Advertising departments stepped up their use of printed faux-news sections, designed in editorial style. The more they blurred the line, the more they made.

To stay competitve, television news reporting gave way to Opinion. The facts became a small part of a 5 minute segment on healthcare. Opinions of people who don't really matter to any of us became more important than facts, solely because they inflamed our passions by spreading their opinions.  And America became too lazy to discern either. 

Subtly, then forcefully, American became inured to what now represented modern journalism. Spiro Agnew felt the heat. He was a nasty fucker, and the press took delight in pushing his buttons. And of course we know what happened to his boss. As a result, big investigative pieces brought together some of the writing and photojournalism this country had ever 

seen. University J-Schools  abandoned teaching objectivity in the curriculum. instead subjective reporting, refiltering the news to promote an agenda, became the norm. Activism became a driving force, and for the first time journalists seemed to take up the banner of protecting the citizenry from the evils of the world with the mighty first amendment.

Then came a digital revolution that strived to make life easier, only to have the opposite effect. The children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of boomers  created apps that took people out of permanent jobs, to create a permanent class of gig workers. Of course companies jumped onboard with the movement, saving them billions of dollars in labor costs. Social media filled the decision making gap and America became free to focus on becoming celebrities, or ‘my best me’ rather than upholding free speech. Promoting yourself became a career choice. Tech got rich, corps got rich, but those who have always fed the machine, not so much. But the people’s insatiable vanity is finally happy.

And where are the politicians to protect this citizenry? Already in bed with big tech. They sold America out long before they even knew what effect it would have on society, and now its too late. Dazzled by new ways to reach constituents, dangerously unaware of internet culture, congress allowed them to grow unchecked because of their own ignorance and vanity. They literally signed off to the master plan of tech companies, 

Vampiric, Big Tech latched onto the lifeblood of the small town paper, the classified ad. Old time admen were blindsided when agate pages disappeared from their papers, and appeared on the screen, Four color advertisers followed. Small town newspapers, the lifeblood of diverse opinion began to close left and right. Tens of thousands of jobs, trades, professions, - all lost. Journalists who spent years developing sources and building reputations for fairness found themselves pushed aside for young cheaper labor  in tune with this new technology. 

Their lack of ethics experience and the J-Schools dropping the pretense of objectivity, has his lowered the standard for news reporting. This new class of reporter quickly got into trouble on social media. The traditional media was left in the dust of flash mob reporting. Standards lowered again when print media were forced to choose page clicks over accuracy, for the equivalent of their classified ad revenue. News operations stopped verifying facts, because apps offer instant quotes for stories.  (Cue grizzled city editor voice) ‘There’s no time to run down a response, print what you have-  we are getting killed by the times and the post…besides their standards are no better!’’

Congress was derelict, and a president called them out. Instead of fixing a problem for all, it became another weapon against the entire country, driving us apart, inflamed by algorithms When the second resistance began to rise against tyranny Big Tech silenced them. That is a fact. We now see how scary the times are, how people walk on eggshells lest they be cut off from the rest of their networks. Who gave them this power? A corrupt Congress who they still refuse to do anything

When small papers die, local debate dies. Consensus dies. Old guard networks destabilize, while new networks diffuse a message created in an unsecured echo chamber. Backscatter (old facts) are added to the mix late, marked as new data by old guard media, trying to play catchup. It only further muddles the message. Then it is algo- tweaked to suit the ad buyer and market forces. Then it is posted on your feed as relevant news when in reality, it was processed like American cheese to suit your tastes exactly and delivered by the very people you have friended. (Thank you, Miranda Priestly!)

Now there is talk of  Big Tech actually paying the media companies for content. Paying large media companies for content will not restore the losses of local newspapers. And new players like Laurene Jobs are funding Democratic Party talking points into Facebook news feeds under the guise of local news. This is destructive to the diversity and fabric of America. It is time for the politicians and information gods and their acolytes to stop the information warfare against American Citizen. Otherwise we will kill each other out of fear and algorithm -SM