The State of Media in Two Parts

Here’s a couple of recent noteworthy stories on the state of media:

First, a new We Media/Zogby Interactive poll found that while most people think journalism is “important to the quality of life,” 64 percent of Americans polled are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism in there communities, believing traditional journalism is “out of touch.” In addition, nearly half of Americans are turning to the Internet to get their news, up from 40 percent just last year.

Second, here’s an introspective glance at “The Myth of Objectivity” in big media by Newsweek’s Evan Thomas: “The mainstream media are prejudiced, but not ideologically. The press’s real bias is for conflict. Editors, even ones who marched in antiwar demonstrations during the Vietnam era, have a weakness for war, the ultimate conflict. Inveterate gossips and snoops, journalists also share a yen for scandal, preferably sexual. But mostly they are looking for narratives that reveal something of character. It is the human drama that most compels our attention.”