Wants

Media corporations, whether it is newspapers, TV, radio, or tabloid, all have one thing in common. They want to give you something that you want, in order to earn money to live. We'll forget that second part for now, and focus on the onus, they want to give you something you want.

As an aspiring journalist of sorts, I have discovered that I have a difficult time giving you what you want. My instructors have all told us what the guidelines are for what sells. Blood, war, controversy, and interest, they all sell really good. For an exercise, we had to imagine ourselves at the scene of a major news event, and figure out what we would do (remember that local angle jeebs, it's what makes the papers sell at home), in order to take a news event and make it into a news story.

Bloody car accident? I would report the story, and maybe take a picture of the wreckage. That's all good, but to really get the story to sell, I would have to try and find out who was responsible, and maybe take some pictures of the bloody body getting carted away and whatnot.

Now, here is my problem. You, the consumer, like what you like, and being without a concience as you are, you like a lot of things that I would have a hard time providing for you (see, feeling guilty about snapping a picture of a dead mother is something I have to deal with, and you don't).

I find it curious that I have to provide you, the readership, with your daily dose, while you in turn complain about the lack of Journalistic integrity and morals. Guess what? We're giving you what you want. If some right-wing political pundit is espousing bullshit and gospel, he's doing it to give you what you want, what you are paying to hear, what you want to hear.

Call me old fashioned, but I am, from this day forward, trying to live in the footsteps of journalists like Robert Fisk. He's not putting out what people want to read, quite the contrary. If I was a megalo-corporate entity seeking to invest in the volatile middle-east, Fisk's works would not be something that I would want to read, let alone know the name of the author.

As for integrity and morals, it says something when Osama bin Laden, the most wanted man on the planet, and Anti-America himself, says that "Fisk is Neutral." That's a newsflash right there. Now, I don't want to flaunt that too much, as Osama declaring he can tolerate an American is directly equivocal to treason by that American, at least in the minds of some slack-jawed yokels ("if you are not with us, then you are with the terrorists") who happen to be in the possession of firearms or other pointy, choppy, or hacky bits.

Now, you are probably wondering, where have all the other good journalists gone? That's a good question, but I have faith that they are out there, and like good journalists, they are keeping focused on the news, and keeping themselves out of the picture. Also, many good journalists have recently retired, and I even have some of them as instructors for my course.


As an aside, before wrapping up, I'm curious how well a magazine would sell, if it's entire content was material we didn't want to see, read, or have anything to do with?

My guess is pretty well, if Fox News can make a killing.