[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Anyone who thinks these internal purges of wrongthink in newsrooms is normal is kidding themselves. We're witnessing a fullblown moral panic in the media. Journalists have traditionally been a pretty cynical but collegial bunch, and denouncing your own colleagues at a paper was unheard of. But we're seeing it more and more.

Well that was back when reporters were paid to do the same thing - go out and do actual reporting and follow a story where the facts lead them. Mass media has changed dramatically. Mass media is now a profit center and the opinion pages have been loaded with various firebrands and bomb-throwers construed to be or claiming to be journalists. You can call this the Fox News Effect. Fox lives on an aggressive blend of injecting opinion into news and giving the impression of doing journalism. The success they have achieved has pretty much altered the course of journalism and split the workforce. Journalists (the real ones) don't like being tarred by the same brush as these agents provocateur so there is going to be natural friction. If the news rooms would go back to focusing in on news instead of infotainment this problem would cease to exist.

Like the liberal reporter who tweeted a comment from a black protester who wished more attention was paid to black-on-black violence. Some colleagues were outraged at the tweet, and only after the mandated confession of guilt and moral expatiation was he allowed to return to work.

Ah yes, its always the liberals.

When did journalists become so censorious and intolerant of dissent? I expect it has something to do with the near-collapse of the industry over the last 15 years, and the dramatically narrowed prospects of those entering the vocation. No longer able to plausibly offer prospects for regular employment, journalism must attract people for other reasons today. Presumably, social advocacy is near the top of the list.

It has everything to do with the loss of the Mayflower and Fairness Doctrines. When the media was no longer compelled to tell the truth to the public (thanks Fox News) the legitimacy of their work became open to question and them open to ridicule. When truth doesn't matter, and alternative facts become the basis for an industry, then intolerance is sure to develop and quickly spread. When there are two sets of rules in anything, what is certain to happen?

Another observer has noted that the primary loyalty of reporters today is to their social media tribe, not their employer and colleagues. And we know that extreme partisanship has become the norm among the extremely online.

Yeah, that's bull####. You're conflating the opinion pages with the news section. The vast majority of reporters do what they do in pursuit of the facts and sharing that information with the reader. Unfortunately most news rooms are now run by people without backgrounds in journalism and more focused on entertainment and ratings. Those individuals who control the news hole are the ones who determine whether something makes the cycle or not, and they are the ones who have a finger on the social media feed. If a reporter takes to twitter it is likely because these gatekeepers are spinning a story or holding an important issue back in favor of some other less important but more salacious story. If reporters have a tribe it is the one in search of truth.

What I still don't understand is why so many educated people (and it is the educated professionals we're talking about - studies show the blue collar and working class have much more politically diverse workplaces and tolerance of different political POVs) have come to believe that they're morally tainted just by working in the same place as someone who disagrees with them politically. As if they can become contaminated by association.

Oh look, another Cliff Fletcher attack on educated people. Going to need to see some of these studies, because that does not align with observable behaviors. Education is the door way to diversity of thought and opinion. Go to a worksite and check out the bumper stickers. Not likely to find a diverse bunch in any shape or fashion let alone politically.