Many people today claim that they do not trust the news they see, read or hear in the media. If you are one of them, then you are actually right to think that way. However, the problems with modern media are much more serious than we tend to believe. They go beyond missed deadlines and large media corporations. In this article we will reveal five of them. But beware that these issues are so serious, that they may never be resolved.
News Reported on the Conveyor Belt
In the past, media companies like newspapers, for example, prepared one newspaper a day. That allowed reporters to take more time to research, write and edit their stories. Moreover, those who had the task to write features took weeks or months to do that.
Nowadays, with the rise of social media, online videos and blogging, we have developed the need to get what we want right now and right here. As a result, journalists are breaking all speed limits in their efforts to put out stories before anyone else. Sometimes, you can see only a headline published on the website, while we write the news. Naturally, that leads to mistakes and even misreported news. Even the biggest players in business do it. Eventually, all what the reader gets is empty words hanging in the air on the computer screen. The good news is that there are still media companies which try to do their job professionally. The bad – they are pushed out of the game by the racing electronic media.
Money
If you are applying for the position of a reporter or a journalist, you will see that the requirements are far too many. For instance, you need to have a lot of experience in the field and to have a large amount of already published articles and interviews. But when it comes to the salaries in the sector, the requirements fade into thin air. Many media companies make their reporters work nearly for free. Others ask freelancers to do the job and then forget to pay for the service. As a result, the quality of news reporting is now commonly on a superficial level. Professionals no longer wish to waste their time in hours or days of researching, seeing that their work is neither appreciated by their company nor by the readers. In Dubai, for example, many media outlets hire cheap writers from Asian countries who are not really familiar with news making and reporting, but with surfing Google and rewriting articles from established online media.
Another dangerous consequence of the lack of money in the industry is that the media is now only focusing on news that is hot or trending. They are not interested to offer anything different or unique.
Access
Have you ever wondered why some people continue to be invited to give various interviews no matter what they do? They may have been found guilty in misleading investors and issuing bounced cheques, but they always have a place on your TV, newspaper and computer. How does this happen? Again money! The media cannot say no to them since these individuals are popular and people want to learn more about them. In many cases, they pay handsome fees to the media outlets. During the interviews reporters never ask the most important questions, but glorify their achievements. They never ask the question that made these people media stars in the first place. Instead, they focus on the business, the new product or the new service. This is because reporters are paid to offer access to these individuals. However, this access can quickly get blocked if they start to shoot the “wrong” questions. So they don’t!
The Modern Reporter
A few years ago, successful were those reporters who never gave up, who were smart and who wanted to get to the core of the things. This is mostly valid for the Western media, which is developed since few centuries. However, successful reporters actually cared about our world and all things good and bad in it. These reporters had the gift to produce the best stories. Now, to be a successful reporter you need to be sociable and you need to get along with everyone. You should be a network and capable of spreading your article across your networks fast, because this generates traffic for the online media you work for. Funny things happen sometimes, as for example one reporter twitted from his iPhone that he switched to Windows 8 Nokia phone. Also, modern reporters now should never ask uncomfortable questions. In addition, you should not really care if you illustrate the situation much brighter than it actually is, even if you promote a risk for many people to loose their savings by propagandizing some sort of booms. You should just be OK with reporting anything that you are asked to, even if it has little to do with the truth.
Story Making
The media today has become very biased. It dresses facts into narratives in order to justify the things they want to promote. For instance, let’s say that a particular magazine owner wants to get rid of his property investments. His magazine will have the tendency to promote investments in property and hike the price. The same goes for media companies that want to promote financial products. They will direct a big portion of their content in that direction.
It seems that the term “media freedom” has gone out of control and turned into a grotesque version of itself. The hand-in-hand complementary advertisement is even worser. There are no rules, no boundaries and no force that can stop the profit factors shaking modern day media. Or so it seems…
