clubgop wrote:Is this is what is left of investigative journalism? Track down who said some shit we don't like? Or is that all journalism ever was?
There's a question that probably deserves its own thread.
As the National Review article puts it:
It initially struck me as strange that CNN, “The Most Trusted Name in News,” would devote resources to unmasking some troll, when millions more of them exist, dwelling in caves throughout cyberspace. It’s the equivalent of studying the family tree of one of the mice that live in my walls — who cares?
. . . Thus, Kaczynski decided to embark on a mission to identify this filthy prole. Like an overzealous college resident adviser who smells marijuana emanating from the woods, he decided that someone needed to pay for these broken rules — that justice must be served. Except instead of a meeting with the school disciplinary board, the man behind these tasteless Internet posts would be threatened with a life of perpetual unemployment and total shame. . .
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/4 ... tling-meme
One incident does not define an industry, but I'm hard pressed to think of any recent investigative journalism that hasn't been some extension of an exercise in trying to punishing one's enemies. In business there's a trap that failed CEOs often fall into when trying to push for an acquisition. A good CEO will cautiously read the fundamentals of another business and search for corporate synergies that might justify paying takeover prices. Bad CEOs will decide upfront they want to takeover company ''X", then ignore any data indicating that doing so might be a bad idea. Call it confirmation bias at the corporate level.
Seems like today's media companies are suffering from the same tunnel vision. They have their worldview, they have their narrative, and they will relentlessly pursue whatever course they believe strengthens that narrative even to the point of national embarrassment. And, like bad CEOs, when their actions ultimately result in failure and embarrassment they're completely gobsmacked as to how everything fell apart.
