Saturday, January 16, 2016

The MSM Cut Its Own Throat

"Wherever there is censorship, book-burning, and propaganda, there are people behind the scenes who think they know better what you should be thinking, reading, and discussing, than you do yourself." - al fin next level

I don't have a degree in Journalism - I have a degree in Mass Communications with a concentration in Journalism. I worked as a reporter for two papers and was the editor of a third. Than I left the field in disgust.

Those experiences were eye-openers, and even back then (I graduated in '83) I saw big problems with newspapers and predicted many of them would go out of business. I saw them busy cutting their own throats.

For one thing, the "publishers" weren't publishers.

The first paper I worked for, the "publisher" was the son of the owner and did nothing but sit in his office reading newspapers and magazines. I saw him do exactly nothing. The "general manager," who ran the paper, was incompetent. The "editor's" articles were full of grammatical errors and misspelled words, and the general manager didn't have a clue.

That newspaper is now out of business.

The second newspaper...the "executive editor" was an extremely unpleasant tiny little man with a Napoleon complex. I don't know how long he lasted but it wasn't all that long before he went someplace else. As far as I know the paper is still in business. Perhaps I should check. (I just did - it's out of business.)

The third paper, of which I was the editor...ohmigod.

It was a weekly and owned by a daily that was the county paper. All the top spots at the daily were reserved for graduates of "elite" colleges such as Harvard and Yale - and this newspaper was right in the middle of the Midwest. If you graduated from a local university you were completely shut out of the top spots.

The publisher, who had an MBA (worthless degree) was a second-rater, and second-raters hire third-raters, and third-raters hire four-raters. I saw catastrophes galore, and paper of which I was the editor is now out business.

Many papers which have been around for 150 years are now out of business. I predicted it.

Journalism degrees are worthless. Reporters should start at the bottom and work their way up, like Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter.

MBAs are worthless degrees and I would never hire one under any circumstances. They are always two steps behind the market and in their arrogance they never know it.

In perhaps my first class in Journalism I was taught the media is a "gatekeeper." They decide what's news and what isn't. They're losing that ability and are hysterical about it.

A lot of their loss of being a gatekeeper has to do with the Internet. In fact, without the Internet and social media I doubt Trump wouldn't be on his way to being President, which is driving the MSM crazy because they are helpless to do anything about it.

Even some of the bigger sites on the Internet are trying to be gatekeepers, such as Facebook and Twitter. Does not Zuckerberg realize Facebook can go the way of Myspace? Does he not understand that's the importance of competition? That people can go to other sites and even open them up themselves?

Twitter has tried to ban people but had to back down. When someone has eight million followers what else can they do?

The market rules - and good thing too.

I no longer read newspapers and haven't for years. I don't watch TV news, either, although some of them do a good job, except for the political talking heads (there is a good reason they're called "the chattering classes").

I get all my news off of the Internet, and yes, there is a lot of garbage I have to filter. But that's not hard. Read two stupid articles in a row and that site is gone forever.

My site is actually pretty small. I get about 1500 readers a day and make about $400 a year.

You know what? That's just fine with me. I prefer this is wasting my time with that dinosaur known as the MSM, because I can say what I want and no one can interfere with it.

By the way, the MSM thinks it's smarter and more moral than you. You are the unwashed masses who need guidance from your superiors. The ones I have met, on the other hand, have been stupid and arrogant.

8 comments:

Glen Filthie said...

Good work Bob! I'm getting about 200 a day and make nothing and could possibly grow that ... But I am just peachy with the idea of being able to flip the bird at all the self proclaimed gate keepers.

My question is this: how long can this last? When guys like us have all the facts to make our own decisions...some really big players lose A LOT of power. Don't be surprised if we get shut down hard...

Anonymous said...


... Maybe you guys could get more readers if you just told them what they wanted to hear?/sarcasm off.

If you had more articles on the Kardashians, I bet that would increase your readership.

A.B. Prosper said...

G.F

Right now folks are beginning to discuss how to create our own outlets and I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen. After that the hardware will be next frontier but being smarter and more entrepreneurial on average than the other guys, we've a shot at that too.

Even if somehow it gets "shut down" no matter. The MSM is already doomed by diversity. all the rape-fugess and illegaƱyos are so culturally different and often slow witted that the MSM won't be able to reach them or use them

Anonymous said...

Some suggestions for future articles to increase your readership.

Alcholism and sex tourism for the discerning.
How to waterproof your pool-party text-game!
Codpieces and opera capes -keep it understated gents.
Fisticuffs at ten paces -conflict resolution for the Alpha gentleman.

And all the rest.

Robert What? said...

Bob, who is the Twitter user they tried to ban? Yes, they forget about the Myspace debacle. MySpace got the reputation of being a hangout for pedophiles (homo and hetero) and fell off the face of the earth. However, FarceBook and Twattle are relying on their government connections to keep them going.

One Fat Oz Guy said...

What annoys me most is the 4th paragraph practice: where, if the perpetrator of a crime is a woman or a minority, the description of the perpetrator is withheld until the 4th paragraph (or completely) by which time most people have stopped reading.
There are exceptions, but if the offender is a white male you'll get photos, video and/or description.
Otherwise you have to dig deeper to find that the man who molested girls in one area was actually "of Middle Eastern appearance".
This recently happened in the last area in which I lived.

Ennis said...

I'm more than happy to see the newspapers die off. In the early 2000's, when I lived in Kansas City, I would buy the paper once in a while usually the Sunday one. I could stand the usual tripe about how bad guns were to society and the diversity BS. I even got a call from a newspaper guy one time and told him why would I buy something with an editorial page hostile to my values? I also added I could get a great of deal of news for free considering the cost of my dial up connection at that time and what was accessible.

Unknown said...

"ho is the Twitter user they tried to ban?"

Milo Yiannopoulos.