At the beginning days of formation of our country there was a strong journalism tradition that was so important that its protection was the first Amendment to the Constitution which declares "that Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. It protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
There was a time once, when the news media was viewed as the most powerful tool to keep our democracy strong, and our people safe and free, as observed by Thomas Jefferson when he wrote: “There is only one force in the nation that can be depended upon to keep the government pure and the governors honest, and that is the people themselves. They alone, if well informed, are capable of preventing the corruption of power, and restoring the nation to its rightful course if it should go astray. They alone are the safest depository of the ultimate powers of government.”
There was a time that most people in the United States looked up to and respected journalists, but with the advent of "profit based reporting," and Advertising Censorship over News Operations, that ship has sailed never to be seen again. Now news outlets are more concerned about "sensationalism" than information of importance to a still struggling democracy.
There once was a time when most news outlets were locally owned, and survived based on local subscriptions and advertising. Those days ended as the local families owning local news outlets began to diversify their family assets, they sold to investors who began to demand the news outlets make money - lots of money. And with each local news outlet snapped up by corporate America, revenue and profits presented to stockholders became more important than accurate and timely information presented to the local residents. Then along came the INTERNET, and the cost of running a media outlet dropped to the point that anyone and everyone with an opinion, is slowly squeezing the lifeblood out of "for profit based journalism."
Back in the dark ages when news outlets still had credibility, I was a young reporter/photographer (1971 to 1973) for the Pacific daily News. Back in those days a slow news day small edition was 60 pages. In the past fifteen years I can't remember seeing a paper that had more than 40 pages.
As news outlets focused more on generating profit than reporting news, audience levels declined, and still declining to this day. And without rebuilding a brand name based on trust, they will all fade away replaced to "honestly biased" social media outlets. And I am now part of the transition from traditional news media outlets to a "honestly biased" news media outlet.
The biggest difference between traditional news media outlets and "honestly biased" social media outlets have over traditional media outlets, is that we "honestly biased" outlets tend to declare our biases. And without the advertising department having censorship over which stories get covered - or not covered - we, the "honestly biased" have the ability to cover stories that are important to us personally.
With all the serious challenges taking place in the world today with the war in the Ukraine, collapsing globalization, rising inflation rates, 100 million climate/war/economic refugees searching for safe haven, more than 500 million people "food insecure" as famine breaks out on every continent, and one-in-five families in America is "housing insecure;" why did traditional media focus so much print space and broadcast time on the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard court battle (google search: 55,500,000 entries)?
Not a single story about Depp/Heard was going to give anyone the kind of information needed to make a difference in the quality of life of our people, but the "profit gods" that now rule traditional medial outlets have spoken, and the traditional news media soldiers followed their marching orders.
For those of you who have been following my career as a Community Advocate, you have seen the types of stories I cover. I cover them because they are important stories. Stories that have major consequences on people's lives; and most often stories local traditional media outlets aren't interested in covering.
Covering complex stories about government fraud, waste and abuse of power is not easy or cheap. There is a cost to the time, logistics, and expenses it takes to develop a story that could have a major impact on your quality of life. If you value the information I present, consider buying me a cup of coffee or two, or more, to help defray the costs of doing Community Advocacy research and production.