Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps? : Archive Entry From Brad DeLong's Webjournal
Time to ask why the media has fallen so far. Theories?
Here are mine:
1. The government developed a set of techniques and discipline for managing the media. The need for sources was always the achilles heal of the media -- it just took a while for government to discover how to use this lever.
2. Economics. Print media is stressed by net advertising and the decline in classifieds revenue. Broadcast is stressed by cable. Financial weakness means more advertising levers to pull, and less ability to defend.
3. Corruption. Journalists saw too many stupid people getting rich ripping the system off. No-one seemed to care. Finally they gave up and decided to get their piece.
Are there historical analogies?
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