Stupid Journalists and News Reporting

[mde2001]

Some of you might have seen my recent status update where I got pissed off at an article written. It was the final straw and I need to get this off my chest.

A boy who went to my school was killed on a freeway in LA a couple of days ago which was clearly a tragedy. I know the boy's younger brother quite well and this is obviously very upsetting for their family in particular. Most news sites have dealt with this rather well and this one (I know it was a blog but still) decided to take it as an opportunity to make jokes, call him stupid and make fun of both Indians and Australians. This is a completely inappropriate reaction as the circumstances of his death were not yet known and it is a death. I don't understand why some people believe it is necessary to make cheap comments and jokes out of a human death.

This isn't the only way reporting and journalism annoys me. I go to quite a rich private school which obviously attracts a bit more media attention. I understand that. Most of it is reasonable. But what I am sick to death of is journalists coming onto our school grounds or lurking at exits to the schools to shove cameras in student's faces to try and get a reaction from them and ask them questions about issues that they have no knowledge of. Around 40 years ago there were serious issues with sexual abuse at the school. They are being dealt with quite well at the moment and I understand the need for reporting on issues like this but there is no reason to go up to current students and ask them provocative questions just to try and increase news ratings. It is things like these which I consider to be completely wrong.

I could go on and on about these things. I have at least 20 stories similar to this one all to do with reporters being completely insensitive morons. I know there are a lot of good reporters out there who work hard to bring good news but people who post, publish and present trash like this don't deserve to be considered sources of authority on any issues.

I know this is mostly a ranty topic but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has these issues. I am just so sick of this. It shouldn't be acceptable to do these sorts of things and I think it reflects very poorly on the human race that we give people like this a voice. Journalism should express a wide range of opinions but I can't support things like this being published or broadcasted.

If you want to read what pushed me over the edge as well as the comments that made me lose all my faith in humanity it is here: http://truenewsusa.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/australian-teen-rishi-chaubal-menon-is.html

Warning- this is actually quite confronting. The comments especially.

Edited November 3, 2015 by mde2001

[Maelstrom]

This is why I want one of my superpowers to be the ability to punch people through the internet.

[dead account]

This is why I want one of my superpowers to be the ability to punch people through the internet.

My God, this would be the best power ever.

Yeah. Journalists like this are the worst.

[nugget_22]

thats why i dont want to be one ive been asked questions and i have anxiety or something so i run around this resevoir near my town really fast and it was funny cos they fell into mud

[wytch_doctr]

Journalists often manipulate things to make them seem one extreme or the other. That's how they earn. I recently watched this documentary about Children's Marketing, and it showed how companies' marketers set up cameras in back yards, bedrooms, even bathrooms to see how they interact with the specific product. And what's more horrifying is that they have the parents permission to do this, of course with some material offers. the fact that they are willing to basically put a price tag on their children's privacy is horrifying.

Similarly in sports punditry. Sports articles often focus on one man to death, and emphasizes the object to a point that the supporter of that team is even manipulated. The media pounce on every single mistake a man makes, and blows the issue up until it reaches the backs of every magazine, newspaper and blog. This is how terrifying journalism is.

It is just frustrating to see how people are treated like this due to the media. However, there is big money to be earned, and most will stop at nothing to get it, therefore making this a situation none of us can stop.

[star-kin]

this is absolutely and utterly disgusting.

[Sutoratosu]

the vast majority of Journalist and news outlets simply have no souls nowadays. Once upon a time, journalism was something that actually mattered, was actually used to serve at least some type of perceived greater good, but now? All the media cares about is profit. Which really hasn't changed in anyway since the founding of media- the only thing that's changed is that the greed and souless money grubbing that once ran rampant through the hearts of boards of directors and CEOs of the biggest news outlets, now runs just as rampant through the hearts of the grunts whose job it is to go out and get the cash cows rounded up, and once upon a time, those grunts were most often the only ones who actually cared about the stories they were delving into and getting the truth behind them out to the public...

It just seems like so many people in the profession no longer give a damn... not to say that there aren't any true journalist left out there, there are, but at this point, the number is getting steadily smaller and smaller as time flies by. As these true journalist, veterans left over from a better and more integrity conscious age of reporting, are getting older and beginning to step down and retire, newer, younger individuals are replacing them. Individuals who weren't alive for some of the shit that happened decades ago... individuals who just want to keep themselves fed. More and more of them just want to get paid, and don't care about the truth. The truth is apparently whatever the big man at the head of the table says the truth is, as far they can be concerned.

And ratings is what keeps the lights on for them... so they're going to twist and contort any story in any way they need to in order to add shock value and get a sticking point into folks minds so that they'll "Tune in". And they won't feel the least bit of shame regardless of how many facts and context they either crop out, misrepresent, or outright just lie about.

overall, I think it's just a shitty situation for all of News Media. Hence why I've honestly just stopped watching most of it altogether except for a select few groups who I think are actually still worth a damn.

But that's just my two cents on the matter...

[Abyssreaper99]

This article the journalist made can only be described as trashy and soulless. I mean, who would go out of their way to disrespect someone who's deceased by using photoshop to try to make it appear like he was wearing it, using a real crappy pun to make it seem humorous that the person has died and making racist remarks. Articles like this are so trashy and awful that it can't be called an article. It states that witnesses have claimed that he was doing what it said on the article but it's clearly false as it contains cliches that racist people create as well as the fact there is no comments from any particular witnesses,which most news related businesses and articles do.

I have even seen the comments and some of them are totally disrespectful, who has the rights to mock someone that hasn't done anything wrong and particularly when the person has just died? People who create articles like this are the scum of the Earth and have no signs of respect or dignity. If the family has seen this then that's even worse as it has made the loss of their relative even more harsh and painful.

Mde, douchebags like this shouldn't even be shown any remorse attention. The thing that needs to be done is to somehow get blogs/articles like this shut down. The insensitivity of some of the people in the comments and the blog-creator has really peed me off and I don't even know the target of this cyber-bullying (sorry I had to use such a 'childish' term but that's part of how I think of it as) and slandering in death. Hope the family are doing ok considering the circumstances.

[Darvan Korematsu]

I got 2 words for you. FOX News. Nuff said.

[AuthorReborn]

Now I'm a strage-un because I don't actually hate journalists. Heck, I actually like them. That is of course when they do their job as it was intended. The media has incredible power over everyone and if used correctly it can be a superb driving tool for progresss in all fields. My older brother is actually a journalist and he loves to go out and inform people as to the truth about issues. He hates censorship and wants everyone to know the true facts of the matter. He doesn't care as to what they think about the matter, but more so that the truth is known.

That article, however, is not journalism. That's a goddamn scam.

If you scroll down into the comments, one guy says that you can have the article removed if you make a "nice donation" to the author of the article. This leads me to believe that the author is being intentionally provocative to ellict money from offended strangers on the internet, which, while a seemingly nice short term solution, it is inherently flawed in the long term as all you do for paying the author to take down the article is reward his bad behavior.

So please, I beg of you, ignore the troll who has his reaching out for your wallet.

[Sutoratosu]

So... just to update on my earlier words, since I didn't have time to actually read the article itself before I had to leave for a bit...

Author is actually right, that article isn't actual journalism, not even in the fully corporatized, soulless sense more concerned about profit than truth. It's really just a troll blogger trying to make light out of a heavy and inappropriate subject for the sake of generating views and attention to his little corner of the internet.

And I can confirm the whole shady thing about donations to take it down:

http://prntscr.com/8ym4d8

Yeah... this really is a troll, folks. A god awful troll, but a troll nonetheless... and the only way to deal with trolls... is to ignore them. Ignore them, and eventually... they have no choice but to fade away; Find some other way to waste their god damn time.

Oh, and... don't give that sick fuck any of your money, please...as much as some may want to, just to get this disgraceful shit taken down, it's not going to help the situation, it'll only add fuel to the fire and encourage the idiot to repeat shitposting like this in the future. IE, your ass will indeed likely be scammed if you fork over any cash.

And damn it, Mael, now I want the superpower to punch people through the internet too, after reading that pile of shit...actually, no, fuck it, I would like the power to freaking dropkick them instead.

[Felicity]

But that's just my two cents on the matter...

You should have been more careful, that two cents just got stolen by a Scrooge.

It's rather ridiculous, to say the least, that someone attempted this. So much so that anyone with half a brain knows that any slightly legitimate news source would have been nailed to the ground beneath a rocket and left to incinerate if they posted something so flammable on the internet.

Any decent journalist knows they're always playing to an audience, one way or another. To throw such flaming shit at them in quite so obvious a manner makes absolutely no sense just to scrounge some attention. Bad publicity is good publicity does not apply to the news themselves, otherwise everyone really will fuck off and leave them alone.

[Commander]

I just saw that and...I must say that this is something that goes too far in more ways than one. Seriously, they should be allowed to fine people like that for being racist...but freedom of the press (though Libel is a thing but the goddamn internet is a pain to fight against). But yeah, that's an example of someone who should just burn in a pit of fire because they don't give enough damn about people.

As for Media as a whole, I know this isn't super fitting, but it does a good job of showing what news should here. (Link won't let me upload it here)

[Darvan Korematsu]

Okay back to my serious face. Legitimately what Strat and Dobs said are right to a point about the news sources and trolling. There is also a difference between bias and trolling. If I could, I'd pull up a video from Game Theory that talked about stuff like this. It's all for attention at the end of the day when you think about it.

There was a couple incidents in America regarding racial tension with black people and the white cops, who people outside of those areas thought were actively seeking out the dark-skinned citizens and gunning them down and making them look like accidents or "justified". All of them except one that I can think of have been proven as bogus so far. Although it's hard to believe what the average unwashed masses will support or believe in.

Even FOX News wouldn't be morbid enough to post a story like that and write it the way they did.

[Alex]

ITT people overreacting to dark humour.

[Honchy]

Over in my neck of the woods, people are murdered everyday, sirens always go off, and sometimes it's just not a safe place. The world is just a broken place .

[Sutoratosu]

ITT people overreacting to dark humour.

There's a difference between simply using a bit of dark humor, and saying something for the sake of being inflammatory and no other purpose but to be inflammatory.

That article isn't dark humor, it's some blog poster trying to use the tactic of shock value inorder to swindle people. His purpose in that article was obviously to generate enough anger and disdain towards the very post that people would be willing to fucking donate to his blog in order to just get him to take it down. The very comment I posted a screenshot of earlier is proof enough of his true intentions, as is the overall firestorm that was going on in the comments. As many hate comments supporting the post as there are, his true targets were to garner those speaking out against the content. Those people were the ones he really wants to pay attention, because those are the people who are going to donate just to get him to get rid of it. Do not let the ratio of opposing to supporting commentary be misleading.

I'm no expert in the art of comedy, but I'm 99% certain that regardless of the particular sub genre of it, people ideally aren't supposed to get screwed over and scammed by some clever troll who knows just a modicum of psychological manipulation tactics...

but ironically, you still have a point. Because those types of tactics are used all the time nowadays... and ya know whats the only way to negate them? to stop paying attention to them... if they're denied the very fuel they need in order to grow and reach their goal- controversy and subseqeunt talk and veiwership- IE, relevancy -well... they just fail then.

So, that said... it's been nice talking to you all, gents... I think I'ma leave this now though. I've said all that I wanted to say, both on the topic of the news media in general and the troll poster. There's no point giving this article anymore attention than it's already gotten- trust me, giving trolls attention only encourages them and adds fresh wood to the firestorm. So I'm personally going to stop paying attention to this... cause that's the only way it'll ever truly die. Plus, if I were to try to preach anymore, It would quickly become a circular argument and lose it's entire point altogether.

On a parting note though... I hope the guy who concocted this little scam goes fucking bankrupt some day, or at least has some type of karmic bite-in-the-ass catch up to him at some point...

I know I personally would have no pitty for the bastard if it did.

[mde2001]

ITT people overreacting to dark humour.

I'm completely with Stratos here.

This isn't dark humour and I'm actually mildly concerned that you believe that making up facts about a real person who you know nothing about and mocking their death is acceptable humour. Dark humour is just a lame excuse for people to hide their insensitivity and often discrimination. Humour is used as an excuse for all sorts of things these days but that doesn't mean it is acceptable or justifiable.

I'll remind you- I knew this person in real life. He was a great young man who had a lot of potential to do great things. I know his brother who is going through a lot at the moment and doesn't need stuff like this being posted about his loved ones on the internet- especially by racist morons who make a living out of putting down people who are in positions of pain.

So, I apologise for "over-reacting" to an article which is making fun of death, using incorrect facts, photoshopping for humour, giving a place where racism can run free and showing complete ignorance.

I doubt you'd be calling this over reacting if it happened to someone you knew personally and you saw the effect this had on his relatives, friends and community.

[Yours Truly]

I don't even think that's close to an article; that was just.... if you'll excuse me I will be going to bed, and yes I agree with stratos that isn't black humor; It's just some troll trying to annoy people enough until they give him money; so Mde remember the following quote "Don't feed the troll".

[NickCrash]

I understand the emotions caused by the article, however some of you are taking this the wrong way. If we start discussing about taking things down, or fining or whatever form of punishment for his actions, no matter how racist or manipulative or heartless or rogue they are, we are in fact oppressing them i.e taking back the freedom of speech we are so proud to have established for everyone.

The IQ of the average reader is enough to understand everything that's wrong with that article. Even the ones below that will understand the motivation and the goals of the publisher. In the end it's a blog without much significance. Instead of ranting and wanting it to disappear, one should focus on education. Yes, I know that you already know you disagree and how wrong it is and everything it does in malice offends you directly (in the case of mde) or indirectly (everyone else who don't know the kid), but the best course of action is to leave it there. People will see it and understand what's wrong with it. They get informed of the bad type of "writing articles" (becase this cannot be classified as journalism) and get more suspicious of the methods one uses to manipulate the mass into doing things for his benefit.

No matter how heartless it is, it's just one malignant, badly-written article, which poses no harm to the minds of people who can judge. Relax and let yourself calm down. If nothing else, it can stimulate you to try and identify similar methods used by the "professionals" of the field, and see through the manipulation that happens elsewhere, which is basically everywhere. Intense emotions is what they want from you. Do not let the beast that eats you satisfy its hunger.