Tuesday, August 27, 2013

27-Aug-13: What lies behind mainstream news reporting? Sensational secrets revealed here

What do editors of news channels do in the mainstream media world? And why do they do it?

For people like us who live where a significant share of the world's news is actually made and from where it's reported, those questions are often an invitation to fury and despair. That's why we ask you to indulge us and please read carefully this small extract from a longer, unusually straight-talking piece of online commentary:
So, as managing editor of CNN.com, I want our readers to know this: All you are to us, and all you will ever be to us, are eyeballs. The more eyeballs on our content, the more cash we can ask for. Period. And if we’re able to get more eyeballs, that means I’ve done my job, which gets me congratulations from my bosses, which encourages me to put up even more stupid...
and so on.

The full article is here on the Onion website. Perhaps you already realize what is actually being said. Perhaps not. But please agree with us that behind the clever wording and the carefully developed tone, there's some serious truth being expressed here. We'll leave it at that.

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