Fake Steve Gets Real
January 10, 2011 1:34 PM Subscribe
The news business has descended into the gutter in a pathetic attempt to stay alive. It’s been a horrible race to the bottom. This is turn has polluted our politics, and now we’re seeing the result of it.
This post was deleted for the following reason: single link blog op-ed on a touchy topic, maybe wait a day or two if this is a topic dear to you and make more of a "this is great link I wanted to discuss with MeFites" posts? -- jessamyn
The one thing that everyone in America can agree on -- from Palin on the right to Stewart on the left -- It's media's fault.
Not impressed.
posted by softjeans at 1:40 PM on January 10, 2011
Not impressed.
posted by softjeans at 1:40 PM on January 10, 2011
How stunningly vapid.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:41 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:41 PM on January 10, 2011
Don't really know what this is, but the phrase "best of the web" does not leap to mind unbidden.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:41 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:41 PM on January 10, 2011
"Please stop digging these holes!" yelled the shovel salesman.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 1:42 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by BitterOldPunk at 1:42 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
So,... is this supposed to be "meta" in that the FPP is like one long, lame follow up comment?
posted by bonobothegreat at 1:47 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by bonobothegreat at 1:47 PM on January 10, 2011
Ironically, the first link on the "Related Posts" list is to something titled, "And the evil right-wing dipshit of the week award goes to..."
Physician, heal thyself.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:48 PM on January 10, 2011
Physician, heal thyself.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:48 PM on January 10, 2011
I feel like floating up to Fake Steve and turning into an orange octahedron, then murmuring in a synthesized voice:
posted by adipocere at 1:51 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
YESZ.posted by adipocere at 1:51 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
"I consume shit media and it tastes like shit"
posted by munchingzombie at 1:51 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by munchingzombie at 1:51 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Wait, Fox News is The Daily Kos's fault? Or the other way around? Or something like that?
posted by octothorpe at 1:52 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by octothorpe at 1:52 PM on January 10, 2011
Apparently outrage over starting a war based on a pretext and rationalizing torture is the same as outrage over having a black president who.. uh, signed health care reform.
But hey, at least the false equivalence didn't stop him from getting on that "angry rhetoric gets people shot" bandwagon.
posted by 0xdeadc0de at 1:52 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
But hey, at least the false equivalence didn't stop him from getting on that "angry rhetoric gets people shot" bandwagon.
posted by 0xdeadc0de at 1:52 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Stuff that 10 years ago they would have thrown back in our face they now do willingly — in fact, they don’t even wait for us to suggest it. They suggest it themselves.
Such as...?
But then, to make things worse, the mainstream media began copying the Internet, and this kind of noisy, personal, ugly kind of news spread onto cable TV. Fox News came first. MSNBC became its mirror image.
I'm pretty sure cable TV was right there with the "personal, ugly kind of news" long before the Internet, and before that there was talk radio.
As for the Internet, let’s just be honest: Much of what we now call “news” online isn’t even entertainment, it’s garbage.
There. I said it.
Oo-dang. We've been told. And do you feel better now?
Why is HuffPo so crowded with sensationalistic tabloid junk about celebrity boobs and fluffy “lists” of “the deadliest ice creams.” (And just about everyone else, too. )
Why is there no question mark on this sentence. (And this one.)
Why do journalists now start their day looking at Google search results to see what’s “hot” and then deciding what to write about based on that?
We do? Seriously? Why wasn't I told?!
posted by limeonaire at 1:54 PM on January 10, 2011
Such as...?
But then, to make things worse, the mainstream media began copying the Internet, and this kind of noisy, personal, ugly kind of news spread onto cable TV. Fox News came first. MSNBC became its mirror image.
I'm pretty sure cable TV was right there with the "personal, ugly kind of news" long before the Internet, and before that there was talk radio.
As for the Internet, let’s just be honest: Much of what we now call “news” online isn’t even entertainment, it’s garbage.
There. I said it.
Oo-dang. We've been told. And do you feel better now?
Why is HuffPo so crowded with sensationalistic tabloid junk about celebrity boobs and fluffy “lists” of “the deadliest ice creams.” (And just about everyone else, too. )
Why is there no question mark on this sentence. (And this one.)
Why do journalists now start their day looking at Google search results to see what’s “hot” and then deciding what to write about based on that?
We do? Seriously? Why wasn't I told?!
posted by limeonaire at 1:54 PM on January 10, 2011
If you're bored by the present picture of the media, may I offer a a fun dystopian look at a not-yet-near future look at media: The Gambler, by Paolo Bacigalupi (via Artw).
posted by filthy light thief at 1:55 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by filthy light thief at 1:55 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
"The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason. "
Hunter S. Thompson
Generation of Swine (1988)
posted by Relay at 1:55 PM on January 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
Hunter S. Thompson
Generation of Swine (1988)
posted by Relay at 1:55 PM on January 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
"Let's all agree that both the wolves AND the sheep should stop eating sheep."
posted by Legomancer at 2:00 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Legomancer at 2:00 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
limeonaire: Why do journalists now start their day looking at Google search results to see what’s “hot” and then deciding what to write about based on that?
We do? Seriously? Why wasn't I told?!
I'm not a journalist, but Iplay one on TV am friends with a TV news writer/producer. She said that it's depressing to have well-researched stories get shelved (or trashed) because there was a house fire this morning. By the evening broadcast, that's still deemed "most pressing news," even long after the fire has been put out and everyone escaped with their lives. In the era of 24 hour news, the main qualifier for covering a story is "new" (second being "popular;" and for the small stations, a third: "local"). Which is what everyone already realized by watching TV or reading the 'net or the paper, but it's more depressing coming from someone who is paid to make the news.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:02 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
We do? Seriously? Why wasn't I told?!
I'm not a journalist, but I
posted by filthy light thief at 2:02 PM on January 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
It didn't look like that on preview, I swear.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:02 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by filthy light thief at 2:02 PM on January 10, 2011
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posted by inthe80s at 1:39 PM on January 10, 2011