I’m Anti-Twitter; Part V
Posted on 20. Apr, 2009 by The Gimcracker in Twitter Sucks
People (Ashton Kutcher) say that Twitter is great because it lets us become the sources and broadcasters of news. Well, who is “us”? If “us” means “regular people”, then my response to that is: we already do! If my regular old next door neighbor Joe wants to be a news broadcaster, no one’s stopping him. All he has to do is go to college and learn how. If he wants to be the source of news, then he can do that too! All he has to do is go out and do something newsworthy like save (or take) someone’s life, crash a car into a gas station, or win a hot dog eating contest. Regular people do that kind of stuff all the time and then other regular people who went to school for journalism report on it.
I don’t know where the idea came from that regular people are not doing this stuff. Oh yes I do, it came from the most un-regular person on the planet: Ashton Kutcher. What does he know about regular people? I bet when he speaks of the “news”, he’s referring to Hollywood gossip. *sigh*
This blog gets what I’m talking about. I’m glad other much better writers/thinkers out there are beginning to agree with me. It makes me look a little less like the crazy old man who lives in the hills and shouts gibberish.
Yeah, but the “professional journalists” are even more corrupt and owned than Kutcher is. The networks are owned by bigger corporations with the result being focused on making money – i.e. getting more advertisers on the program. Getting more advertisers means having better ratings. How do networks get better ratings? Have the most interesting headlines. Objectivity isn’t a requirement anymore, it’s just kind of nice if you show it every once in awhile.
Is that news? Is that objectively reporting what’s going on in America? No, it’s having the most interesting headlines. Who cares if it’s fair or unbiased, the most people will watch it, so lets fire it up.
The thing I can get behind is people reporting the truth. If social media and…ugh..Twitter gives people a chance to do that then yes, as much as I hate to say it – I’m all for that too.
The day of someone going to college and learning how to do “teh news” is over. You learn how to report whatever your parent corporation guidelines lets you report, or whatever will get you the most ratings.
That is true. News companies don’t care about the news, they just care about the ratings, so they will put up any news they want.
However, it is a fallacy to say that since the current news broadcasting companies aren’t getting the job done, then Twitter is the way to go. Two wrongs don’t make a right. I think neither are right. An independent news company without an agenda that has the resources/connections to be able to report real news to us would be ideal.
That being said, I agree with you because the amount I hate Twitter is eclipsed by the amount I despise the corruption in the media. It’s like complaining about the soundtrack to Tomb Raider The Movie and ignoring the bigger issue at hand: THE MOVIE SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN MADE.