I am regularly appalled to observe the extent to which so-called "journalists" and "publishers" will go in order to get a headline or pump up their readership numbers. In times past, it was called "yellow journalism". I call what I am witnessing all too often these days "pump, puff and spin" journalism.
You can see it every night on the cable "news" shows. You can see it on CNN, MSNBC and FOX News. More and more you see it in the op-ed pages of respected national newspapers such as 'The New York Times'. It is obvious in some of the widely read blogs like 'The Huffington Post'.
"Pump, puff and spin" journalism has become all too common. And because it so widely prevalent, it has become an accepted and almost expected journalism practice. Hell, for all I know, the journalism schools in Anerica may be teaching such methods! I am sad to observe that the Walter Cronkites, Roger Mudds and Jim Lehrers of journalism are being replaced by the loose-with-the-facts, controversy-stirring, highly-partisan Arianna Huffingtons, Chris Mathews, Ed Schultzes, Sean Hannitys and Keith Olbermanns.
And now, with the advent of daily online "news reporting" here in Hermann, we see it cropping up within some corners of our local news media community. We see it prominently displayed, on at least one of our local online "news" sites. And it disgusts me! I am especially disgusted by some of the voyeuristic reporting I have seen recently.
I object to sensationalism over substance. I object to reporters playing loose-with-the-facts. I object to one-sided, biased, political agenda-driven reporting. I object to self-promotion and self-aggrandizement. I object to ambulance, police car and fire truck chasing. I object to intrusions into the private lives of grieving families. Give me hard-hitting, fair and balanced interviews of public officials concerning matters of public interest rather than inappropriate voyeuristic interviews of grieving family members! I object to the publication of photos of homes on fire, mangled, over-turned vehicles, caskets being born down the steps of churches and funeral homes. What will be next? Photos of badly mangled, bleeding bodies? Photos of corpses in caskets at funeral homes? Interviews of sick and dieing people in their hospital beds? Videos of grieving family members as they ride in the funeral procession to the grave site for the bural service of a loved one? Where does this all end? Do the so-called "journalists" who engage in this type of sick sensationalism even know where the boundary line of common decency is? Judging from the types of stories I've already seen "reported" by one particular "news" website in the local area, I have to say that I doubt that they have the foggiest idea where the boundary line of common decency lies.
I urge that this kind of "pump, puff and spin" journalism be soundly rejected in Hermann. I urge anyone who has a paid annual subscription to any online "news" website which employs "yellow journalism" tactics and methods to cancel their subscription and demand a pro-rata refund of subscriber fees already paid. I urge all consumers of local news to demand the highest journalistic standards from those who seek to provide news reports in exchange for subscription fees and as a vehicle for charging advertisers for ad space.
But that's just my opinion! What's yours?
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