After noticing for the 10000th time that “journalists” are incurably destructive, I thought again about which parts of news are really needed.
I don’t need to know what some politician said or promised. Politicians never keep their promises, and the verbal stageplay is only mind-wrecking. I don’t need to know what’s happening in some country halfway around the world. I need to be PROTECTED from the most destructive product of “journalism”, the intentional provocation of wars and riots.
In other contexts, starting a fight or a riot is a crime. When “journalists” commit mass assault, they are allegedly “serving democracy”, whatever that means.
I do need to know two categories of REAL information. (1) When is the next big rain or snow or wind? (2) What was that big boom I just heard, and where are the sirens going? Where is the crime in this neighborhood? According to surveys, most people want the same things from local news, and most feel that they aren’t getting it from newspapers or TV.
The mechanical parts of government are doing a great job on (1). The Weather Bureau provides frequent forecasts and constantly updated radar pictures to let me know where the next storm is and when it’s likely to hit.
But there’s no News Bureau corresponding to the Weather Bureau. Fortunately a local Facebook page provides this service, less reliably than the Weather Bureau. If I lived in a city without a similar online service, I’d be stuck with the commercial media, which are vastly worse than useless. They never tell me what I need to know. They only tell me what some politician said about some other politician. Mostly they just insult peasants and stir up wars and panic and riots over total bullshit myths about what some politician said. Mostly they commit crimes.
The FCC, starting in the 20s and then more formally with the Fairness Doctrine, turned broadcast media into a close equivalent of a News Bureau. Because broadcasters had to be licensed to use the limited public resource of the frequency band, their licenses depended on using the resource RESPONSIBLY and HELPFULLY. They were free to entertain and advertise as much as they wanted, so long as they gave SOME time to neutral information, NOT partisan panic-stirring to foment riots and wars.
= = = = =
Footnote: Both of these good sources also provide two traditional entertainment functions of a newspaper along with the necessary public service.
(1) They LISTEN to the people. The Facebook page does this automatically as part of its algorithm. The most important REAL reporting comes from ordinary people who are close to the accident or fire or crime, or involved in the power outage. The webmaster only starts each discussion with a brief notice, and then the real reporters take over. The Weather Bureau’s twitter feed listens often, but not as a primary function. They solicit public reports on snowstorms and windstorms, especially from the small towns where the Bureau doesn’t have its own sensing mechanisms. Professional “journalists” never listen or respond to feedback, and in fact listening is regarded as a mortal sin among “journalists”.
(2) They provide occasional entertainment to lighten the mood. The Facebook page offers polls on nonserious topics and conducts drawings for concert tickets or other gifts. The Weather Bureau often writes its own poetry, a classic newspaper feature.
Polistra's Mill 