Author: Riley Kimball
“Every news broadcast is censored. It’s just that in China, we’re very aware of it.”
So said my host brother in China. Like most who read this, I rejected the idea immediately. After all, American journalists have broken stories that could never withstand the PRC’s infamous manipulation of the press, such as Watergate or the Pentagon Papers. But upon reflection, it seems that lately, the industry is failing its audiences when it comes to the quantity, and quality, of investigative stories in mainstream media sources.
In the last few years, the public has increasingly become aware of the lack of transparency permeating many aspects of American life. The banking sector nearly buckled under the weight of dubious, unregulated trading, the Citizens United ruling enabled corporations to make unlimited campaign contributions, and WikiLeaks revealed a surreal volume of previously hidden foreign policy information. And instead of launching investigations of their own into this disarray, most news companies have commercialized and shallowed up their coverage. Now, the lack of depth in a story here is as notable as CCTV’s, a Chinese news program, blatant omissions.
In four months of Arab Spring uprisings and revolts, CCTV’s only mention of the events was a discussion of the U.S.’s, not NATO’s—the U.S.’s, intrusive foreign policy in bombing Libya. There was no mention of the reasons for the airstrikes nor any discussion of democratic revolutions.
In spite of its headlining story telling people to sell their old iPhones before the iPhone 5 announcement, CNN failed to report on the Occupy Wall Street protest for 10 days after its inception, even though most other outlets picked the story up within two days. The story only “broke” on CNN when Michael Moore brought up the protests on Piers Morgan’s program.
This raises questions of filtering content. During the News of the World scandal, News Corp-owned Fox News famously featured program hosts candidly discussing “the subject we’re not talking about today.” CNN’s parent company Time Warner has a similar interest in not bringing further attention to the Wall Street protests.
The first legitimate coverage of the protests, outside of Michael Moore’s support of the protesters, was entitled, “Protesters unsure how to fix Wall Street.” The article ran the same day that pilots joined the protests and shortly before the 200,000 strong New York Transit Workers Union voted to participate.
The real issue at stake is the failure of audiences to realize that news broadcasts are services delivered by companies. These companies exist to satisfy a demand and make money. If the market no longer demands accuracy, thoroughness or investigation into institutions as it once did, the companies need not work toward these goals.
Instead, the 24-hour news cycle fills its time with popular issues stuffed with vapid speculation. News Corporation’s horrific deeds were a firebrand for a short window, but when compared to the attention that the Casey Anthony trial received, the coverage was laughably superficial.
Audiences have become accustomed to streaming updates, whether through Twitter, Facebook, blogs or the like. As a result, news companies have sacrificed depth for breadth, touching on every story as it happens, regardless of the relative weight a story deserves. Stories no longer “develop.” They emerge, and then fade into noise.
To use a rhetorical crutch, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Every time a debt ceiling approaches, CNN airs hours of mindless political punditry discussing the “Possible Imminent Collapse of the U.S.” But this will not happen anytime soon. Ina Garten has some great tips on how to make tasty hors d’oeuvres during lime season. Do not support the growing manufacturing of the news. Whether in your own home or in the gym, change the channel. Demand a return to the caliber of journalism that used to characterize American democracy.
Riley Kimball is a senior DWA major. He can be reached at Kimball at oxy.edu.
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