Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Is There Such a Thing as Govt Subsidized Free Press?

The traditional media is having a hard time these days. The big three (ABC, CBS, NBC) are struggling financially as well as almost every major newspaper in the country. Most of them are blaming the internet, cable news- especially Fox and the changing habits of Americans. I contend that none of these things will kill traditional news outlets. I believe they are committing suicide.

When I was a kid, I remember watching the evening news almost every day with my Dad. In our house, it was the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. This was during the time of the Vietnam War and the race to the moon. There was a sense that you could trust Mr. Cronkite and more importantly that the information presented was accurate and without any major attempt to sway your opinion. It was just the news and you took from it what you would. The important stories of the day were covered, onsite with reliable sources. I often recall Dan Rather reporting from the jungles of Vietnam donning a military helmet and surrounded by young soldiers.

Today’s major media outlets have very little in common with their predecessors. The majority of news today is fluff and any serious news is presented with a slant too steep for some to climb. As an example, let’s look at the first four stories on NBC’s news website today:

Karl Rove’s interview about the Republican Party’s attempt to “repeal, replace and reform” the health care bill. – ok – I can buy that one.

The NFL’s change in overtime rules for playoff games.

Ben Stiller’s interview to promote his new movie.

Do cheating spouses deserve a second chance?

75% fluff – no stories on the economy, Afghanistan or Iraq, the war on terror, the situation with Israel or the turmoil in Mexico. No stories on the financial crisis facing most states and municipalities, unemployment or detailing the health care bill so we can understand what we are facing as citizens and taxpayers.

Anybody can do fluff. It doesn’t take much knowledge, money, effort or investigative skills to interview Ben Stiller. Even stories involving politics have deteriorated into interviews of talking heads and creating arguments over political methods rather than serious discussion of policies and their consequences.

And by buying into and slanting news stories toward a political ideology and perhaps more importantly failing to report news stories that don’t favor the ascribed ideology; the national media has alienated half of its potential market. Couple this with their feeble attempts to pass off fluff as news when other media outlets are so much better at the process (National Enquirer, OMG and TMZ, etc) and it becomes easy to see why they are failing.

In the past when an industry was in trouble, those who couldn’t or wouldn’t adapt disappeared and a new and usually better competitor entered the market. Today’s major players don’t seem to believe that the free market should apply to media. They don’t want to spend the money and effort to improve their news coverage and they certainly don’t want to admit that their often slanted coverage is driving away viewers and readers in droves.

What do some of them want? Government assistance - Bailouts. Within the past year, Media figures such as Dan Rather have asked President Obama to form a White House commission on public media to help “save” the industry from corporate and political influences that are dumbing down and sleazing up the news. He argues that a free press must be protected and supported by the government and that the media should not just be a money –making enterprise or journalists will continue to lose their jobs.

Others are quietly pushing for government subsidies to keep news outlets – especially major newspapers afloat because given their current practices, they are not financially viable.

In the past year, we have had either government takeover or extreme regulation of the financial markets, auto industry, education through student loan takeovers and now the health care industry. We now have a press, as a result of its own poor business practices, moral decay and adherence to political ideology that has begun to falter. And much like the corporations that were deemed “too big to fail,” they believe themselves “too important to fail”.

The thought of a government commission and government subsidies to aid the continuation of the “free press” is perhaps the biggest threat that faces our nation - bigger than health care issues, economic bankruptcy and Al Qaeda. The fact that such ideas are even suggested in a free society is stunning and deeply troubling.

The free market is the only method to maintain a “free press”. Those who adapt, correct their methods and make the tough decisions should survive while those who don’t should go the way of the dinosaur. Support your local media such as those that WWN link to everyday and hold them accountable to a journalistic standard and let’s hope that on a national scale that the marketplace will lead us to an efficient, ethical and free press.

William McCully

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Lindsay Who?

I believe Lindsay Lohan's publicist informed her that maybe her career wasn't going so well and it might be time to stir the Hollywood cauldron a bit. Maybe a new movie role, try her hand at the stage or even a guest spot on some TV sitcom? Nope - she's got a better idea.

Let's sue E-Trade!!

It seems that Dear Lindsay puts her stardom up there with the likes of Oprah, Madonna and Cher. In her mind - she is so famous that she basically has a copyright to the name "Lindsay" and the financial trading company had the audacity to use her moniker in one of their "Baby" ads.

You know the ads- talking babies discussing their investments and how easy it is to invest through E-trade. In the specific commercial, a baby boy is apologizing to his girlfriend for not calling her the night before. The girl baby asks if "Lindsay" the milkaholic wasn't over at his place. Lindsay, the baby girl pops onto the screen at about this time and says "a Milk-a -What?'

Ms. Lohan is seeking $100 million dollars in damages and wants the commercials off the air.

Lohan's lawyer claims that E-Trade is not only using her name w/o permission but also her characterization - in other words that milk-aholic baby is a pretty accurate description of Ms. Lohan. It would normally be at this pont that I would sarcastically say " I'm sure her Momma and 'em are so proud!" - but unfortunately I'm afraid they probably are.