The conduct of a handful of so-called reporters during President Trump’s news conference was disgraceful beyond measure. This is not journalism, this is narcissism.
Naturally, the boorish Jim Acosta of CNN was the instigator. As is his habit, Acosta doesn’t ask questions — he makes accusations and argues. Almost daily, he does it with the press secretary; Wednesday, he did it with the president.
Jim Acosta violated one of the oldest rules of journalism
Welcome to Celebrity Journalism!
But I thought the oldest rule in journalism was “to cover the story and not to be the story.”
Things have changed since I was a kid. And to think I even applied for Journalism School in my youth.
Hat Tip Sal F.
Acosta wants to be the next Dan Rather
He’s already a lying creep fascist.
Jim Acosta is becoming the personification of what (IIRC) IowaHawk tweeted (no link — sorry), which I’m paraphrasing:
“Modern journalism means covering the important stories. With a pillow. Until they stop moving.”
Or the hidden double-meaning of what Stephen Colbert said when he first got his own show: “When news breaks, we fix it.”
That line was no doubt offered tongue-in-cheek for laughs, but today’s journ-o-lists do have a nasty habit of NOT reporting breaking stories, or reporting them in the light most favorable to the Left (or least favorable to the Right). Thus, “fixed”.
Once upon a time, in a land where most people were informed by a quaint object known as a newspaper. News was separate from opinion, with opinion expressed on the identified Editorial Page(s). Journalists covered events, gathered facts, asked the five W questions and wrote stories. News stories were usually unattributed or if attributed, it was something like “The Daily Fish Wrapper Staff”. Editorials had a byline, but reporters were largely unknown outside the industry.
Enter radio in the thirties, and news readers, chosen for their resonant speaking voice, and ability to articulate a reporter’s story over the air without an identifiable accent. Over time the news readers became journalists in the ears of the public and the competing networks vied to promote their news readers as the best source of news. With the advent of TV, good looks were added to the qualification list, and field reporters actually got some air time, again with the main qualifications being good looks, pleasant voice, and articulation skills. Due to airtime restrictions, sound bites became news, and in depth, well researched stories disappeared. Producers replaced editors and the need to limit programing to a half hour segment, meant editorial decisions were made on what content was aired based on the producers preferences. News and opinion became inexorably entwined without any identification of what was opinion and what was fact based news.