MORE ON financial problems for Big Media. Add to that this story on the Associated Press’s problems. Key bit: “But in a world, and a Web, full of analysis, opinion and ‘accountability journalism,’ what’s missing is a neutral referee. Which is a bit like living in a world with a North Pole and a South Pole but no equator. If there’s no one to set the standard, how will we know when we’ve crossed the line?” Neutral hard-news reporting is the one thing the AP can do better than anyone else if it tries. So why isn’t it trying harder?
UPDATE: Reader Jim Warren writes: “Duh.The AP can’t do unbiased because they’re not. The Long March of the Left through the institutions continues apace, more often than not at the expense of the institutions themselves. The AP may have to be sacrificed for the greater good, and what of it? A small price to pay for educating the proles…”
If I owned stock in some of these media companies I’d be making a stink at the shareholders’ meeting.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Jim Stanton emails that it’s not “yellow journalism,” but “blue journalism:”
Shouldn’t this sort of partisan hackery have a name? Does it? Yellow journalism had a name and that helped identify it and eventually get rid of it. I came up with the term but others may have either seeded my thought unconsciously or come up with it first. I did a quick google of ‘blue journalism’ and got hits but it didn’t turn up much. I didn’t see any that seemed to indicate its use in this context. I like the term and would like your opinion of it.
The pendulum will eventually swing back I hope. The NYT actually made its name in the swing back from yellow. Some struggling organization will figure it out and ride the swing back.
Let’s hope. And reader Todd Hester writes:
Glenn, maybe that’s the next (and best) strategy: Buy up stock in these companies and make a stink at shareholders’ meetings. Heck, we could buy low, and–if we do our job well–end up selling high. Of
course, the strategy of buying stock is predicated on the hope that we’re not taxed into poverty first. . .
Activism that makes a buck! Hey, it works for ACORN . . . .