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| Carl Bernstein |
Carol Forsloff---Margaret B sat at a table nearby, peering up at the television set in the back of the restaurant and exclaimed, "Not much on television these days except people saying there's breaking news, but then it isn't new at all, do you think? And there's lots of just conversation back and forth, with young folks laughing as they are talking. Doesn't sound like what I remember newscasts used to be." Her observation mirrors that of Carl Bernstein reporter of the Washington Post and Watergate fame.
Bernstein was on the show Reliable Sources today, observing what others have often said about the media. Too much of the news is of the armchair type and too little is news.
Hillary Clinton was the top of discussion on many of the news channels this weekend. But for the most part the articles were speculation on how the new revelations about her personal life was going to impact her future possibilities as a Presidential candidate. Bernstein offers the observation that it is often this type of news that dominates the air waves and the print form of the news as well.
The woman at a restaurant takes a moment to say out loud what she believes has happened with the news and offers her observation, albeit "no real names, please" to a reporter sitting nearby. "I just don't watch much television anymore because I hear the same things repeated over and over. And they say it's breaking news. I mostly read the Portland Oregonian because at least I get some news about what's going on around here.
Local is what counts to many people. But even local news is invaded by online "newspapers" that don't report the news but instead offer a series of canned articles that are cut and pasted from somewhere else. So that's why people say they get tired of repetitions, the same formats in the same way, by armchair writers who don't go out and cover news on foot.
A casual conversation becomes the news of the moment, reaffirmed by Carl Bernstein, a reminder of what even people in the news media have said about themselves and expressing the concerns of many, that the old-style method of going out into the public arena and gathering information is a value many hope won't fade away. In fact it is that style of reporting that leads to good investigative journalism.
