I have two journalism degrees and I only worked in the “media” for a year at a newspaper before transitioning to advertising/marketing for a decade. Now I own a small business in my hometown.
The business of journalism has much to do with where we are today. During my year at the newspaper it was obvious where things were going: revenue was down (which meant the number of physical pages in the paper was down as that number is based on advertising needs), number of employees was down, anything digital was an afterthought, and people were 100% focused on how to keep doing the same thing they had done for the last 50 years with fewer resources. After I left they started to consolidate everything they could (design from a single hub instead of in the actual city where the reporting took place, centralized printing, more reliance on wire services for news, etc) and it still wasn’t enough cutting to solve the problem. Of course they also weren’t focused on growth of any kind, so things quickly got worse. Of the hundreds of journalism majors I graduated with I only know of a couple who are still in the business.
What was once thought of as “news” (timely, useful, important, non-biased, accurate reporting) became “content” and journalists became “content creators,” sometimes at the same publications and sometimes for other businesses or marketing firms. The money that once went to advertising that supported journalism indirectly instead shifted directly to creating content. There was no need for a PR firm to spend time or resources trying to influence a reporter because instead they could just create the content and pay for it to run as an advertorial, or pitch it as “news” to a decimated newsroom that would publish almost anything to keep the stories flowing and the lights on.
This was happening in every area of news, including politics. Then the money really started to flow after the Citizens United decision. You’ll recall that Citizens United is essentially a not for profit content farm. It makes content from a specific ideological viewpoint instead of from the unbiased and fact-focused view of a journalist.
As the article mentioned, there are still journalists out there trying to show both sides and focus on the facts. That all goes out the window when there is so much money involved in creating content that supports one side or the other, and especially when people on one side or the other use the tenets of journalism against us. Politicians have figured out that it’s “news” when they say ridiculous things, so they continue to do so and watch as it gets covered. Even if the journalist tries to show both sides the mere act of repeating the “news” gives it credence and further solidifies the politicians’ views as “real.” And if they don’t cover it they are decried for being biased. Politicians are the only ones who win.
It’s clear to me we can’t go back to a time when journalism was relevant or non-harmful, even if we could roll back some changes like Citizens United. The only thing I can hope for is that people who disagree somehow start to talk with one another directly instead of focusing so much on the “media” as a way to relate to one another.