It Must Suck to be a Journalist

Famed blogger Arthur Chrenkoff returns to post a summary of media bias in reporting on the Iraq war. Nothing new here, folks, but it's a nice summary of how the media is badly failing its purpose. Citing the one to 27 ratio of good news stories to bad in 2005, Chrenkoff details his more recent analysis of Iraq war reportage:

"The future of Iraq is still uncertain, and one has to resist the temptation to claim victory, in contrast to so many others who have been declaring defeat virtually from the start. One thing is almost certain though: however Iraq will turn up, the mainstream media has become one of the casualties of that war. As the recent study by the Sacred Heart University has shown, less than 20% of Americans believe the media all or most of the time.

The more reflective among the media professionals might ponder on why they have become as trusted as a profession as used car salesmen, and then they might briefly remember the 'one to 27 ratio.'"

Chrenkoff sites a study done by an American university about the consumers view of media bias.

"In the current national poll, just 19.6% of those surveyed could say they believe all or most news media reporting. This is down from 27.4% in 2003. Just under one-quarter, 23.9%, in 2007 said they believe little or none of reporting while 55.3% suggested they believe some media news reporting."

"The perception is growing among Americans that the news media attempts to influence public opinion – from 79.3% strongly or somewhat agreeing in 2003 to 87.6% in 2007.

And, 86.0% agreed (strongly or somewhat) that the news media attempts to influence public policies – up from 76.7% in 2003."

Yesterday, I listened to Cross Country Checkup. Rex was dealing with censorship. A whining student from a journalism school called in and started right in with the tired old rant about the media's corporate ownership dictating what can and cannot be said on the airwaves and in the newspapers, etc., etc., etc. Blah! Blah! Blah! You know the schtick. It was so patently canned it was laughable. Is this what they teach in journalism schools? No wonder they are a profession that is disappearing.

But then again, maybe it's that journalists haven't got a clue about most of the things they report on. Soldier's Dad cites a case in point which could very well be explained by that theory. That's what I like about his blog. He's a military man who knows how the armed forces operate. He often devotes a blog entry to explaining what the media got wrong. In any case, it must suck to be a journalist these days.