MMMM #487 --- Three MUST reads for journalists and those who want to become one.

• Is the media to blame for the polarization of the government?

“There’s very little we can do to change the Republicans’ political situation because they are worried about a cohort of voters who disagree with most of what the president says. We don’t have the ability to communicate with them—we can’t even break into the tight communication circles to convince them that climate change is real. They are talking to people who agree with them, they are listening to news outlets that reinforce that point of view, and the president is probably the person with the least ability to break into that because of the partisan bias there.”

• Me, quoting The Washington Post, quoting The New Yorker, quoting former White House staffer Dan Pfeiffer

Read the entire column HERE.

• Lisa Myers on the State of TV News:

The stories get shorter and shorter and the sound bites get shorter and shorter. Look, there is a place for celebrity news, for feel good stories, all those things have a legitimate place in various newscasts, but it should not always be at the expense of the more-in-depth stories or investigations that networks used to. I am speaking industry-wide, not speaking about any specific network.

Read the entire interview HERE.

• Journalism vs Public Relations

 My biggest concerns about the role of PR in modern journalism are not the question of accuracy or bias, though both of those are important. What really concerns me is the way these outside influences determine what does and does not get covered and the lack of awareness (or at least acknowledgement) on the part of the press.

Journalism: Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
Public relations: Serve the client (who is likely to be comfortable).

Read the entire piece HERE. 

Send a link to this MMMM to anyone you know studying journalism, or thinking about it!

(The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular longstanding feature of www.TimLennox.com)