| Topic Name: |
Bill O'Reilly---Journalist? |
| Message Name: |
What about John Stewart? |
| Date Posted: |
06/14/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
The public confusion over who is a genuine journalist and who is not is nothing new.
In the early 90's, during Peter Jenning's heyday, ABC did some research on who was America's best liked anchor.
Not surprisingly for that time, Peter was #1.
But the second most trusted and well-liked anchor at the time, accoring to the research, wasn't Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather, or even Bernard Shaw. It was..............Oprah Winfrey.
There were shock waves in the halls of ABC. The times were clearly starting to change--a change that continues to gather steam today. |
| Message: |
Nothing new about the confusion at all.
Outside of the industry and the professional world, very few people give much thought to just what a journalist really IS!
If someone appears on TV or the radio talking about the day's issues, a lot of people will just, without thinking about it, file that person into the same mental category as the people in TV or radio newscasts.
Dumb, lazy, and excruciatingly common.
Hence the preponderance of young people who think they're actually getting news from "The Daily Show." (not journalism)
Hence the confusion over Armstrong Williams (not a journalist. Never claimed to be.)
or Bill Moyers (not a journalist. Sometimes pretends.)
Sean Hannity (not a journalist. Makes a point of saying he's not.)
Al Franken (not a journalist, but wishes you thought he were.)
Mark McGrath (not a journalist. Pretends)
Ann Coulter (not a journalist, but hates them enough to be one.)
Geraldo Rivera (a journalist, believe it or not)
Matt Drudge (Yes. Heaven help us.)
...and even Oprah (about as far from a journalist as it's possible to get.)
Chalk it up to the dumbing down of contemporary public discourse and a perverted notion of egalitarianism that equates posession of a microphone with knowledge, merit or wisdom.
It's a consequence of our mindless celebrity culture and the elevating of stupid emoting and politically correct hot buttons above serious inquiry into the facts.
Coming this fall: "CBS Evening News with Rob and Amber."
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