article on Y2K and the mediagreenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread |
Please check out my article, Y2K and the Failure (So Far) of the Press.Thanks,
Scott Johnson
Editor, y2ktoday
http://www.y2ktoday.com/
-- Scott Johnson (scojo@yahoo.com), April 05, 1999
Thanks Scott.The newsmedia is not only failing the public, but themselves as well.
Likely we'll all pay the price for shallow thinking and surface investigation.
Diane
-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 06, 1999.
Scott,I enjoyed the read, and agree with many of your points. However, one of the problems I see with covering Y2k is access, particularly among small journalism organizations.
Questions about remediation status are probably directed to the public/media relations office of any given company/organization.
The public/media relations officer will first query the reporter to determine whether they are predisposed to writing a negative or positive story. (If the organization's been slammed in the past, the reporter probably won't have his/her phone calls returned.)
Someone on this forum mentioned Woodward and Bernstein and what they went through developing the Watergate story.
I can't help but think there would have to be at least 500 reporters in the U.S. alone with that type of skill/determination to get a truly clear picture. Given the way things work, I just don't think it will happen.
-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), April 06, 1999.
FM- agree with your points, but you point out the biggest failing of today's media (not just with regards to Y2K, but in general): expecting to get the truth from press releases or public affairs officials. Real investigative journalism is in desperately short supply, especially when it comes to genuinely important issues. Afraid I have to agree with your pessimistic outlook, though...-s-
-- Scott Johnson (scojo@yahoo.com), April 07, 1999.