Physical media has been on the decline since the world won the battle against the digital bug known as Y2K. We live in a digital world. News consumption has changed the media atmosphere.
Transcript
HOST: Hi, welcome to Pseudo Pop where we use pop culture to give real life some context. I’m your host, Anthony Solorzano and today we’re going to talk about news consumption.
KTLA REPORTER: Times announcing massive layoffs today cutting the jobs of at least 115 employees. It’s the largest workforce reduction in the paper’s 142 year history. The billionaire owner of the Times says the cuts are necessary because the paper is losing 30 to $40 million a year.
WALL STREET REPORTER: Most of the really amazing journalism that’s done is done at places like the journal and at the Times but if you look at a lot of the articles that are traditionally written, they just take what’s in a newspaper, on the web and then shove it into a mobile device.
HOST: Physical media has been on the decline since the world won the battle against a digital bug known as Y2K. We live in a digital world. According to Pew Research Center, eight out of 10 Americans get their news from digital devices such as a smartphone, computers or tablets.
GARY: It has been an amazing transformation on how, not only students but how everybody consumes news, I, one of the things I always point out to people that I think is so interesting is when you go into somebody’s house and there’s a 70-inch television or an 80-inch television or a 55-inch television, right? Everybody’s got these big screen TVs in their houses. But when you wanna find out what’s going on in the news or what’s trending, everybody goes to this little three inch screen that you hold in your hands and that is, you know, people don’t hold a print product in their hands anymore. You barely see people reading magazines anymore.
My name is Gary Metzger. I am the design advisor to the Daily 49er at Long Beach State and I have been a full time lecturer at Long Beach State for 16 years. I teach media design classes, sports journalism and mass media and society.
HOST: The age of smartphones has created a bubble of independent journalists that make Fox News look like NPR. These independent reporters flood social media and develop a news cycle that’s driven by their character and entertainment rather than putting an emphasis on facts. Oftentimes these reporters are also pushing an agenda. The batch of reporters spreading fake news makes it even harder to believe the reporters that are telling an unbiased factual story. How is this new age changing the media atmosphere?
GARY: That’s a great question because a lot of these air quotes, independent journalists, are not trained. And I think the key word there is trained. Aren’t trained to properly report the news. When you’re in a journalism program at a community college or a journalism program at a four year school, those students are trained to gather the information of what is happening and then to get comments from both sides of an issue. For example, as a trained student journalist, you would never want to turn in a story that only uses one source. At the Daily 49er, we have to provide a minimum of three sources for a story before it gets on to the website or into our E-edition of the newspaper or on to our podcast or anything like that. Our students, community college and four-year, are trained to gather more than one source and present both sides of an issue if that story needs to be reported from both sides. Independent journalists, though, don’t have that type of training. And many times, not all the time, but many times those independent journalists are only going to present the side of the issue that they favor and that they support.
HOST: The country is months away from an election in between two old men yelling at clouds. Real unbiased news is entering familiar territory of high stakes, everything matters. The election can be swayed any way as soon as misinformation hits the internet. According to a study done by security, nine out of 10 Americans fact check the news. Finally something the country can rally behind.
GARY: There’s a lot of distrust in this country. There are a lot of, there is a lot of bad information being shared because these untrained journalists, all they have to do is create their own podcast, create their own youtube channel. You know, anybody can do that and they can, they may find somebody online who agrees with their point of view and then they’ll just take that information and present it as their point of view. And I think it leads to a lot of mistrust with legacy journalism that is presented, for example, in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times, everybody, not everybody, but, but some people seem to think that the New York Times has an agenda, the Los Angeles Times has an agenda and just because it doesn’t align with their point of view, they think that it’s, that it’s, that it’s not presenting the entire story as it should be.
HOST: In the show “Succession” during an episode called “America Decides,” the news network owned by the Roy family, ATN, calls the results of a state election towards a right wing candidate before the votes are counted. The people pulling strings call the election so the new president can return the favor.
KEN ROY: People, people are gonna say shit.
ROMAN ROY: Yeah, we’ll be in the West Wing. Nothing matters, Ken, nothing fucking matters. Dad’s dead and the country is a big pussy, waiting to get fucked. Fucking, action, OK? We can pay for any damages. Let’s just jam our fucking heads in the bosom of history and just bugga-bugga-bugga.
HOST: The trendy new way of reporting has turned the news into a form of clout. News outlets worry more about breaking the news, rather than reporting facts.
TOM WAMBSGANS: Information, Greg, it’s like a bottle of fine wine. You store it, you hoard it, you save save it for a special occasion and then you smash someone’s fucking face in with.
HOST: If the news isn’t making money for someone, then the information is not being spread the right way. Throughout this process of instant breaking news gratification, facts are lost. As the country enters an election cycle, it is important to understand the difference between entertainment and news. Adequate journalism is needed more than ever. Reporters need to hold the people in power accountable for their actions. Because at the end of the day, who watches the watchmen? Adequate journalism is needed more than ever. Reporters need to hold the people in power accountable for their actions because at the end of the day, who watches the Watchmen?
ROMAN ROY: We just made a night of good TV. That’s what we’ve done.
HOST: For Pseudo Pop, we out.
