Feds opening investigation into Florida teen killing

MacGuffin said:
Well, when was the last time the U.S. media actually had a journalistic bright hour?
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The CNN guy who by chance caught the first plane going into the Twin Towers at least had brilliant reflexes.
 
What did they say?
 
I would say that in general the American media has a lot of pride in what they do and they do a good job. I know you like to take any chance to bash America, but I don't think this is a good opportunity.
 
Who does? Me? If that's me you're refering to, it's utter bull.
 
Macguffin. Not you nomix.

EDIT: Macguffin's constant anti-American rhetoric annoys me at times.
 
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There's a lot going the other way too, let that be clear.
 
nomix said:
What did they say?
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Several things:

-An interview with the CEO of FedEx and his opinions regarding the petroleum economy and how it's a losing battle from every angle.

-A report on the current tensions between the Argentinians and the UK over the Falklands since today is the 30th anniversary.

-A recap of the NCAA Women's Basketball semi-final games.
 
nomix said:
There's a lot going the other way too, let that be clear.
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That is most likely very true, but I can only control my own actions. Also, I hate this argument as a justification. I hear it politics all the time. "They do it too!!!!!" To me that means that both parties(political or groups of individuals) are wrong.
I try to stay away from generalizations about entire countries or groups.
 
Cellos88GT said:
Several things:

-An interview with the CEO of FedEx and his opinions regarding the petroleum economy and how it's a losing battle from every angle.

-A report on the current tensions between the Argentinians and the UK over the Falklands since today is the 30th anniversary.

-A recap of the NCAA Women's Basketball semi-final games.
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I suppose I'm not really that interested in basketball, but the Falklands and the effects of soaring petroleum prices on the postal industry is quite interesting.

Okaen said:
That is most likely very true, but I can only control my own actions. Also, I hate this argument as a justification. I hear it politics all the time. "They do it too!!!!!" To me that means that both parties(political or groups of individuals) are wrong.
I try to stay away from generalizations about entire countries or groups.
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I get your point. The thing is, he's got a point. The US media has been more and more compromised, you're relying too much on partisan bickering, to put it with JibJab, "debate replaced with punditry, politically skewed, it's what we call the news".

Just my .2

:)
 
nomix said:
I get your point. The thing is, he's got a point. The US media has been more and more compromised, you're relying too much on partisan bickering, to put it with JibJab, "debate replaced with punditry, politically skewed, it's what we call the news".

Just my .2

:)
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Weren't you the first to tout this case as being a perfect example of racism when there wasn't any to begin with? That's a slightly politically skewed view point, no?
 
I'm not a pundit on television. I write here what I'd say at the pub.

As for the race issue, my original point was (if a little pompous) that a if the victim was a white kid, his death might have been a little more rigorously investigated. I believe that point still stands. It's not a matter of traditional racism, you know, KKK stuff and segregationist idiots, it's a matter of preconceptions. It's the same mentality that made me, and almost every single Norwegian think of islamists when Anders Behring Breivik blew up the government buildings in Oslo, to put it that way.

Racism is so often touted as sinister, as crude, violent and loud. It's not always that way. The idea that racists walk around talking racism isn't accurate.

What's clear now is that there is no evidence this case is about racism. Unless mr. Zimmerman and certain police officials admit anything else, it ain't gonna be proven either.

But I'm still able to rationalize why I believe race was an element, and I think I have done above.
 
Okaen said:
Macguffin. Not you nomix.

EDIT: Macguffin's constant anti-American rhetoric annoys me at times.
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It annoys me even more, that I have to feel that way sometimes. Our own media is often not better, no doubt about that. There is a general lack of good journalism in the world of today, mostly because the public doesn't care as much about it anymore anyway. "Fahrenheit 451" has already become a reality in parts - everywhere.

But to me the American press and media lost a lot of reputation after 9/11, when their job would have been to critically question the actions of the government and its propaganda... but simply didn't.
 
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They are repeating their same mistakes in regards to Iran. Just story after story scaring people into thinking the Iranians are developing nukes and planning to attack the United States. It's pure propaganda and it's disgusting. It's rare to find the media actually point out that, I dunno, there is zero evidence that they are developing nuclear weapons. They basically just repeat what the government feeds them as if it's fact. So when the White House, Department of Defense etc has a press conference or issues a statement...they just repeat it. Investigative journalism is dead.
 
Firecat said:
They are repeating their same mistakes in regards to Iran. Just story after story scaring people into thinking the Iranians are developing nukes and planning to attack the United States. It's pure propaganda and it's disgusting. It's rare to find the media actually point out that, I dunno, there is zero evidence that they are developing nuclear weapons. They basically just repeat what the government feeds them as if it's fact. So when the White House, Department of Defense etc has a press conference or issues a statement...they just repeat it. Investigative journalism is dead.
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Saudi Arabia has better relations people.
 
I agree with that point. The US media failed to a great degree over certain acts of Congress that utilized a similarity in name with a very positive term for pride in your nation.

That said, journalism has slipped all over the world. Around the turn of the 90s, some executives in the media business decided they had come across a wizard weeze. What if they halfed the number of journalists, squezed them as far as they could on pay, and asked them to do double the work, wouldn't that make them more money?

Genious!

Or not. Standards slipped, less money for investigative journalism, more stories about celebrities, more stories about pink cows and wild polar bears in South Africa. At the same time, the newspapers, whos working style is easier to do as investigative, lost ground to 24 hour news.

Now, 24 hour news sounds like another great innovation. More news, that's better, right?

Yes. And no. First of all, it made it possible to inform people about breaking news, it was no longer even possible to control a story, it would get out no matter what, almost all of the time. It has changed societies, it's done a lot of good for societies.

But. It's saturated us with news. 99 of 100 news stories we're exposed to every time we switch on the news are the same as the last time you watched the news. The saturation of news has made each story less significant. There's a story about a war in the Middle East. The news are showing us footage of people that were burned alive. But while we shake our heads and say "that's horrible", it's just not having the same impact on us as the footage of burning children in Vietnam did a generation ago.

The news saturation has desensitised us. The war in Vietnam might have been justified in some ways, that's a different matter, but there is no doubt that turning large parts of the US population against the horrors the war caused for civilians, played a part in the US losing it. It was far from the determining reason, that was military success for the North, but it played a part.

So.. what can be done? Journalism needs money and resources to work. So get rid of the fucking accountants and bean counters. The saturation, well, we can't do anything about that.. but perhaps we could spend a little more of the prime time on the news channels on proper, old fashioned documentaries? Right now, it's just used for political punditry. Debates that only last for two minutes..

Can't get a good message across with that time, so you strip the points down to a level where it's so meaningsless it makes us stupid.

I don't know..
 
Over here the 24 hour news networks ran balloon boy coverage over the whole day (this is why I refer to them as the balloon boy networks). Easy emotion is more profitable than proper news.
 
Emotion always work well. That's why you go for that as a photojournalist. If you can communicate emotions in your photos, they're better.

Part of the reason I'm a little fond of this photo.



But I think we've digressed a little..
 
I currently have a very bad feeling about the way the media covering of the whole Syria thing.

Yes, Assad is a dictator and yes, he is trying to down the rebellion with brutal force. But do we really get to see the whole picture? We get the impression through the media, that the people of Syria are raising against the regime -- except they actually aren't.

The vast majority of Syrians are Assad supporters and except the few places we see on TV over and over again, there is peace and quiet in Syria. Business as usual. The more I see of it, the more I get the impression, that a rather small-scale rebellion is blown up to enormous proportions by the media in the rush of what has become known as the "Arab Spring" -- and by YouTube.

Yes, the rebels use YouTube for their own propaganda, too. Almost all the pictures about the fighting in Homs are coming from YouTube and it is hard to judge their integrity or authenticity. Recently some journalists have discovered, that one particular rebel has posed in different roles for YouTube: As a reporter, as a wounded fighter with bandages at all, then (after a very quick recovery) as a reporter again, etc.

So are we really seeing what's going on in Syria? Or are we being manipulated?

It's a sad thing to say but I have learned to mistrust the media and journalists at least as much, as I have learned to mistrust politicians. Everybody has an agenda. No one is neutral or impartial. Integrity is really hard to find these days.
 
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