When President Donald Trump says things like the media is failing he’s just telling it like it is.
Depending on which way you lean, you either drink all of the Kool-Aid, think he’s on a tear the likes of which Tom Brady hasn’t seen or you feel he’s pretty much basically out of his freaking mind.
There can be no middle ground or doubt concerning the media’s failure however.
The Internet, social media, especially Facebook and the ability to consume the so-called news we want, has left the media with zero ability to influence anymore.
The exact opposite is occurring with respect to influence by non-traditional outlets. It is a never before experienced period in journalism. Everyone, including the media, can be a disseminator of news.
If you’re truly interested in shaping mindsets and thought over popular issues and current events, you do need lots of shares and likes.
It was easier when there were only three networks regarding broadcast media.
Simplicity in process for print media was the beauty of newspapers, magazines and periodicals. They relied on paid advertising for profitability; sales people peddled advertising space and people bought newspapers filled with over 60% ads every day.
I’m glad hittingthesweetspot does not have print origins. I never would have liked to have referred to what you’re reading as the “online” version. This reference diminishes the formerly great daily newspapers of major metropolitan areas.
On the other side of the coin, hittingthesweetspot by Bob Skelley has been a source of news, entertainment and dare I say, influence, from the date of its origins back in April 2012.
It started out as a personal blog and has grown into a professional one. We’ve seen the changes that broadband and 4G access have brought and we positioned ourselves accordingly. I was always glad not to be pressured to sell subscriptions online in order to remain solvent, unlike the former glory newspapers such as the New York Times.
When there were just three networks on television, it was the power period of that medium.
People tuned in to have their opinions swayed, felt confident in thinking a certain way about an issue because a fatherly news anchor presented both sides, delivering an objective take on a story whose formula has quietly disappeared from the landscape propagated by today’s talking heads.
Now, people click past what they don’t want to consume until they land on something they do.
It typically is not news at all, and the youngest of the young are growing up in a world that makes it easy to choose make believe articles over those based in fact and the proverbial both sides of the story.
The line between what is actually news and what is not has blurred. I want to say this has happened over the course of the existence of this blog—going on five years. The acceleration of negative influence or no influence at all the past few years though, is particularly concerning.
The phenomenon of fake news has given way to the trend of no news, that is, unless you say it is. It doesn’t matter if the person seated next to you considers it rubbish or crap.
The Twitterverse offers one liners as news blasts. It is the playground of morons seeking to troll, insult and denigrate those who would not believe as they do.
Tweets are a lot like farts if you ask me. If George Carlin were still alive I bet he’d do a riff on tweeting and farting that would go something like this:
(Man waving the back of his hand at his behind, and substituting the word “tweeted” for the word farted)…
“I just tweeted!”
“Yes, you did.”
Just because you can tweet doesn’t mean you should. I would suggest the best tweets, like farts, are the ones that never happen, the ones that are entirely squelched, or swallowed, before they can be emitted at all.
“I think I’ll save my next tweet for tomorrow morning when I’m taking my daily constitutional.”
“You sure your adoring public won’t want to hear the news you have before then?”
“Oh yeah, I think they can wait. The fart, I mean, tweet, will be so epic, you know it’ll be worth the wait. Just think of it as news that will deliver a plume of information.”
President Trump uses the word SAD at the end of some of his Tweets. It typically comes after challenging or calling something, someone or some organization out—like the “failing” @nytimes.
Newspapers and mainstream media soldier on devoid of former purpose, unable to deliver content that appeals to general readership unless it’s 400 words or less. Attention spans are too short and fake or no news at all, is dominating limited bandwidth.
There’s no winning even another battle for the media in a war they are at a loss to explain why they are waging in the first place.
They are dying, which is another word for failing and even President Trump realizes this.
Finally, nobody cares.
The apathy that has blanketed the world in unprecedented narcissism and unkind action is the saddest breaking news of all.
