tp165.xml
Title
tp165.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-03-03
TomPaine Story: Story
Post 9/11 Journalism Continues to Forsake Public Interest
If ever there were ever an event that highlighted the essential role that journalism plays in America, it was the 9/11 tragedy.
Immediately after the terrorist attacks, most of the nation tuned to national news outlets for information, wisdom, and guidance in figuring out what exactly happened and why.
What we got from the news media reflected the shameful state of journalism in America. With some exceptions, the national news outlets -- particularly television news programs -- simply lacked the staff and expertise to report on the story with requisite depth and nuance.
Forced by their giant corporate owners to squeeze more profit from news operations, the network news outletsóin the years leading up to 9/11ósteadily cut back on foreign news coverage. The 9/11 tragedy exposed the problem, but in the aftermath nothing changed.
For example, earlier this year Disney, which owns ABC, tried to lure David Letterman from CBS to ABC by offering him Nightlines time slot. The reason: Nightline was not profitable enough.
If there was any remaining doubt about whether media corporations might take their public interest responsibilities more seriously after 9/11, it was erased by their unrelenting and largely successful lobbying campaign to pressure the Federal Communications Commission to rescind regulations limiting large corporations from owning multiple news outlets. This regulatory change would, of course, allow media corporations to make even more moneyóat the expense of professional journalism.
Neither the surging patriotism after 9/11 nor the aura of public interest surrounding journalism after the attacks has inspired the corporate media executives to acknowledge that the demands for maximizing profit from news operations should be lessenedóeither voluntarily or by government regulationóto keep Americans informed and our democracy viable.
If ever there were ever an event that highlighted the essential role that journalism plays in America, it was the 9/11 tragedy.
Immediately after the terrorist attacks, most of the nation tuned to national news outlets for information, wisdom, and guidance in figuring out what exactly happened and why.
What we got from the news media reflected the shameful state of journalism in America. With some exceptions, the national news outlets -- particularly television news programs -- simply lacked the staff and expertise to report on the story with requisite depth and nuance.
Forced by their giant corporate owners to squeeze more profit from news operations, the network news outletsóin the years leading up to 9/11ósteadily cut back on foreign news coverage. The 9/11 tragedy exposed the problem, but in the aftermath nothing changed.
For example, earlier this year Disney, which owns ABC, tried to lure David Letterman from CBS to ABC by offering him Nightlines time slot. The reason: Nightline was not profitable enough.
If there was any remaining doubt about whether media corporations might take their public interest responsibilities more seriously after 9/11, it was erased by their unrelenting and largely successful lobbying campaign to pressure the Federal Communications Commission to rescind regulations limiting large corporations from owning multiple news outlets. This regulatory change would, of course, allow media corporations to make even more moneyóat the expense of professional journalism.
Neither the surging patriotism after 9/11 nor the aura of public interest surrounding journalism after the attacks has inspired the corporate media executives to acknowledge that the demands for maximizing profit from news operations should be lessenedóeither voluntarily or by government regulationóto keep Americans informed and our democracy viable.
Collection
Citation
“tp165.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed October 7, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/644.