A Journalist Stands Up for Journalism

Ben Richardson resigns from Bloomberg News for all the right reasons.   Every student journalist, every journalism professor, every j-school director, every working professional journalist should read this post on Romenesko.

Bloomberg owes the country an apology.     We all owe Ben a salute.  

We live in challenging times when there's never been greater need for thoughtful, in depth reporting.   When Bloomberg had a chance to deliver, it did what General Motors and Toyota have done, decided profit was far more important than doing what was right. From government to universities to car companies to media companies we've witnessed ethics being flushed down the toilet.  As a society, we're paying an incredibly high price. 

Thank goodness for people like Ben Richardson, people who are willing to stand up for what is right and what is ethical.    

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CNN vs The News

When Ted Turner started CNN he had a simple, basic and crucially important philosophy: news is the star.

Want the news?   You won't find out what's going on in the world with CNN.

I need to clarify.  CNN International always has and still does cover the news.  But CNN domestic, the CNN we watch in the United States has for the most part stopped reporting the news, it just reports the story of the day. 

For the past week and who knows for how many more, CNN covers one story, a missing airplane. A few weeks ago it was Chris Christie.

On Fox,  one might expect a group of semi hysterical commentators suggesting that Obama was responsible for the plane's disappearance, that it was actually heading to Benghazi for a meeting with Hillary at directions of the President who had gotten secret orders from Muslims in Kenya. But what's happened to CNN, the network where fact-based news from around the country and around the world used to be the star?  From a news organization, one expects an examination of facts and of evidence being verified.    

Now, instead of doing news, CNN has decided to join the breathless hysteria seekers. Chris Goodfellow, a pilot with 20 years experience, makes some thoughtful observations based on his 20 years of flying.    His thoughtful, rational and reasonable analysis hasn't gotten much play on the Oh My God network.    Perhaps if he had suggested a UFO had snatched the plane, he'd be featured.  

When journalism fails, wild speculation ensues.

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