I wasn't really trying for a science lesson. I have never considered myself a journalist nor a writer and yes, my skills suck. Communications specialists study these events, Journalist do not question their own methods.
When you were looking at the subject , I am looking for the verb. I am hoping to communicate with the next leaders, designers and policy makers for a fifth generation, the F-35 of the newspaper business. If I am saying the things I say, there must be others thinking them. This means thinking differently. I have noticed assignment editors especially at the CBC picking up on the same trends.
But some readers do need a science lesson (not talking about you, Ken
). The Globe and Mail, the CBC and some other news media have been giving readers lessons in science, medicine, statistics and even how face masks are made.
The more you know the terminology and the science involved, the more you might understand the situation. The more you understand the situation, (hopefully) the less fear you will have. Know the science and don't rely on Trump's hunches and empty brain musings.
When they don't know a situation, people will think what they feel and that can lead to fear and panic.
A solar eclipse isn't the end of the world, it's just the moon momentarily passing between the earth and sun. A virus isn't an invisible demon moving from house to house, so you can put away the garlic and cinnamon sticks. Household disinfectant is a mix of chemicals meant to clean your floor so you shouldn't drink it to clean your body.
Newspapers can, and often should, use the language of the readers. But use that language to educate not propagate.
Donald Trump has made 11,000 tweets and has 73 million followers (big, big numbers)and most of the tweets have a merry go round effect amounted to a lot of battle noise but no substance. It is all a tactic I suspect. Tell me who gets away with and wins by systematically overwhelming and becoming the enemy of the news media before 2016? Trumps supporters say, they don't care what he says, they care only about what he does. So what is he doing?
That's the thing. Trump doesn't have to do anything. He just has to be in the news all the time because if he's always in the news then he must be doing something. (i.e. no publicity is bad publicity).
Remember when cigarette advertisements were absolutely everywhere? See enough of them and eventually you may have wanted to smoke.
The 1979 Peter Sellers political satire
Being There was about a brainless fool becoming US president. All that matters is enough people have to believe you're doing something even when you're not. You just have to be there. And Trump is there, in fact he's everywhere just like cigarette advertising.
The Covid19 pandemic proves that fear has to touch everyone's doorstep before it can be taken seriously.
It's not my problem so why should I care?That should be the cue for journalism to take centre stage. That's certainly what photojournalism is for, to make people care.
If no one reads a newspaper and relies only on social media then where is your doorstep? In the old days, your local newspaper was your figurative doorstep. But with social media, is a person's cell phone their doorstep, their window on the world? A social media user can choose the view they want to see outside their window. Do you want an ocean view or a view of the parking lot? Newspapers often have only a view of the parking lot. (But make no mistake, there has been some really, really good pandemic coverage.)
Social media should be called Me Media. A social media user looks at Twitter and Instagram with a, "What are you going to do for me today," attitude. "How are you going to entertainment me right now?" That's not what journalism does or at least that's what it shouldn't do.
Ask not what newspapers can do for you – ask what you can do with a newspaper. (Or something like that
)
Just to be old: when I was your age, we had a grade-five class that taught us to read newspapers. The teacher gave us topics to read about in that day's paper. (Back then, newspapers were delivered in the morning and in the late afternoon.) We had to bring in clippings and discuss the who-what-where-when-why of various stories.
Journalism needs to recognize it's real enemy and how it all works. This not just a good vs evil battle when the battle noise is the goal. The media may be the message, but the battle is the new goal. Facts don't matter in a 4 day cycle of reaction to nonsense. The process erodes credibility of legitimate reporting.
The loudest voices dominates not the smartest. This is a total war of information brought on by the digital age and social media in particular. The journalist is the middleman, the broker of facts is being pushed to extinction on a world wide scale. Journalism's goal of being local in making itself smaller when everything is getting bigger.
Newspapers have to be both the smartest and the loudest. Be smart by using correct terminology and the correct facts and by ignoring online rumours. Be loud the way a lighthouse in a storm is loud. Make sense not more noise.
Facts do matter. The problem is that the media is always four days behind and trying to play catch-up.
Imagine being in a marching band behind the elephants in a parade. You're either always stepping in something or trying to avoid stepping in something. This distraction will throw off your musical performance. What to do? Somehow get ahead of the elephants so you can lead the parade and - wait for it - march to the beat of your own drum. (i.e. stop chasing Trump otherwise you end up stepping in his sh!!t).
If you can't be right, at least be loud. The loudest person gets the clicks, the subscribers, the likes, the self-validation.
Be loud to drown out the criticism, be loud so you can't hear yourself think.
New ways are needed to face social media. The Trump era has created fact checking and self monitoring of social media that was cruising along unabated since before 2016. ....
Entertainment news opened the door to a powerful sarcastic social media and it ran right through it.
Fact checking is only important to those who value facts.
When I was your age, there was news and there was entertainment. Back then, "entertainment news" was still an oxymoron.
Edit: fixed some typos
Topic: Trumps Disinfectant-Twitter-Good Journalism: Who's the Winner (Read 1469 times)