Are newspapers still credible, or has that ship sailed? |
Sometimes my eyes roll so much that I fear I'll have to catch them before they tumble out of my head and provide one of my fur-nephews or nieces with a fun new toy.
In the comments on my column last week, my original troll posted this: "True what you say, Brenda, with a couple of notable notes. Field experts often disagree with one another leaving us Normals in a quandary. Newspapers lost much credibility when reporters began offering up opinions cloaked as objective news. The key is trusted sources mixed with critical thought and common sense."
While I wholeheartedly agree with his last sentence, I don't think we agree on what he thinks that means. In neither of his other statements does he offer evidence (10,001st reminder: the burden of proof is on the person making the claim).
However, I have to address his second point.
Newspapers have had a mixed past. While there have been some great highs, such as the investigative reporting involved in incidents like Watergate, the My Lai massacre, sexual misconduct on Capitol Hill, NSA surveillance and other landmark cases, there was also the yellow journalism practiced during the newspaper war between Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, as well as plagiarism and fabrication scandals involving the likes of Jayson Blair, Jack Kelley, Stephen Glass and others.
Back in the days of Pulitzer and Hearst (and........