Carl Bernstein Raps Celebrity News

[babylonsister]

Carl Bernstein Raps Celebrity News
Published: November 02, 2007 11:05 AM ET


GREENWICH, Conn. A culture coarsened by celebrity news is to blame for inadequate public affairs journalism, Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein told a group of college preparatory students.

Newspapers are devoting fewer resources to issues of importance such as the Iraq war and potential abuses of the U.S. Constitution, the former Washington Post reporter told students at the Brunswick School on Thursday.

He said more resources are being devoted to the lifestyles of celebrities such as Donald Trump and Paris Hilton.

"The problems we have in news and journalism are about us not doing our job well enough," Bernstein said. "The ideal of providing the best available version of the truth is being affected by the dominance of a journalistic culture that has less and less to do with reality and context."

more...

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003667397

[Crabby Appleton]

1. I couldn't agree more nt

[mcscajun]

2. And the rest of the blame?

Bernstein, 63, said he believes an "idiot culture" is partly to blame for the dysfunction of political life in the United States.

"You can't separate the appetites and demands of the people themselves and what they are given," he said. "The blame simply can't all be put at the feet of those who present news."

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It's like illicit drug traffic; there wouldn't be a dealer without a buyer. We see examples of this every day, when the people around us (co-workers, or people you see/hear on the bus/train on the way to work) have last night's "American Idol", "Dancing with the Stars" or who's on the cover of People Magazine uppermost in their minds as urgent morning workplace conversation, rather than anything that's breaking news (unless of course, there's a kid down a well or a blonde missing somewhere) or worrying environmental stories. Now, politics and the environment will have far more direct impact on their lives than anything they might see on TV or read in PEOPLE, but hey! that's how the game is rigged: bread and circuses, baby, bread and circuses.

:banghead: