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Why Do Americans Hate the Media?

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Everywhere you look, newspapers are dying. And even though there are plenty of old-school journalists shaking their heads and arguing we'll miss miss them once they're gone, many folks have actually been celebrating the "mainstream media's" demise lately. Vanity Fair's Matt Pressman wonders what's behind today's hatred of the media. After all, aren't journalists some of our best defenders of democracy? Here are a few of his explanations, edited down for length.

We’re too liberal: That the media—excuse me, the liberal, elite, America-hating media—is reprehensible has become an argument as integral to Republican dogma as “tax cuts solve everything.”
We’re too conservative: The complaint from many on the left isn’t necessarily that the media is carrying water for the G.O.P. (although some make that argument), but that they are either beholden to corporate interests, overly timid, or in bed with their sources, and thus won’t report “the real truth.”
We screw up: We’re supposed to expose wrongdoing in business and government, stay on top of every trend, and get the facts right the first time, every time.
We couldn’t keep up with the digital revolution: [I]nstead of trying to devise a new business model before it was too late, we became more inflexible and stuck in our ways.
We focus too much on fluff: [W]hen we get around to covering Obama, we focus on his fly-swatting technique or what he orders on his burger.

You'll have to check Vanity Fair's website for his counter-arguments. But you can share your thoughts on why there's media hatred in the comments section below. Read more about the media's problems on BNET:

posted by Stefan Deeran
November 2, 2009 @ 4:30 pm

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