The first thing people think of when I say I want to “fix” the news media is censorship.\u00a0 Of course, nobody in their right mind wants censorship.\u00a0 Demand Real Journalism is NOT censorship.<\/strong>\u00a0 It is also not the government deciding what is allowed to be said.\u00a0 DRJ is strengthening the journalism industry, so the audience can\u00a0 better tell what is true and what isn’t.\u00a0 Over time, the news industry will be able to regain the trust of the American people, which now is at rock bottom.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In short, DRJ calls for regulation and licensing of the journalism industry.\u00a0<\/strong> We license and regulate doctors.\u00a0 You can not call yourself a doctor if you can not prove you have had adequate training and are willing to abide by a medical code of ethics.\u00a0 Ditto with lawyers.\u00a0 We also license and regulate contractors, electricians, and plumbers.\u00a0 All kinds of professionals are licensed and regulated.\u00a0 Journalists should be, too.<\/p>\n Journalism is important to the functioning of this country.\u00a0 Real journalism is one of the foundations of democracy.\u00a0 We can not let people who lie on purpose pretend to be journalists.<\/strong>\u00a0 Do you want somebody who is pretending to be a surgeon to cut you open?\u00a0 Do you want a pretend lawyer if you are arrested?\u00a0 Do you want to buy a house built by a fake contractor?\u00a0 No, of course not.<\/p>\n Corruption is destroying journalism in this country.\u00a0 We are all paying the price.\u00a0 \u00a0There is very little real journalism going on, especially on TV.<\/p>\n Even worse, the journalism industry today is filled with organizations and people who have no interest in reporting the truth.\u00a0 I am convinced they lie on purpose to advance a political agenda. They know they are lying.\u00a0 It is not an innocent mistake, and it is not the “other side of the story.”\u00a0 It’s a pile of crap, and it deserves to be called out as such.<\/strong><\/p>\n Real journalism is an awesome thing.<\/p>\n Having been a working journalist for decades, my personal definition is: Real journalism is an honest puruit of the truth without bias or financial pressures clouding the issues.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Real journalism allows for an examination of all legitimate sides of the issue.<\/strong>\u00a0 However, LIES are never legitimate, so they should never be included in anything that purports to be\u00a0 a news story.\u00a0 A good example of this is climate change.\u00a0 The vast majprity of “experts” saying the greenhouse effect is a hoax are lying, and they know it.\u00a0 They are paid to lie by the fossil fuel industry.\u00a0 The news media however has felt compelled to show “both sides” of the issue, when the hoax argument had zero validity if you looked at it with a scientific eye.\u00a0 The fact that the fossil fuel industry paid big bucks to spread lies is part of the story, and the lies should be pointed out as factually untrue.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>Instead, the paid-off experts were treated as legitimate and on the level with the truth-telling experts by most of the media.\u00a0 That is what you call propaganda.<\/p>\n Real journalism can even allow for opinions, if they are clearly marked as opinion.\u00a0 <\/em>Real journalism not only educates, it makes the audience think about things they may not have considered before.<\/p>\n The issue seems more complicated than it actually is by the fact that legitimate journalism has been a target in this country for decades now.\u00a0 The liars with an agenda had to discredit real journalism first, so their lies could sound more credible.\u00a0 This effort to discredit legitimate journalism has gone on for decades and worked like a charm.\u00a0 Part of the reason it worked so well is that TV journalism is easy for viewers to find obnoxious and discredit.\u00a0 Many don’t actually do a GOOD job, generally speaking, just a mediocre job, but the liars with the political agenda are in a class by themselves.<\/p>\n First, let\u2019s legally define JOURNALISM and JOURNALIST.<\/strong> Let the definitions be written by academics and professionals in media and law, but written so your average person can understand. This definition should reiterate what we all should know: Journalism is a fair effort to report the truth, unencumbered by bias or financial interests.<\/p>\n The law should also include legal definitions for related terms like: libel, lie, propaganda, advertising, newscast, commentator, opinion, and probably half a dozen others I\u2019m not thinking of at the moment.\u00a0 We have to do this first so we are all oin the same page.<\/p>\n This law also needs to include a journalist\u2019s code of ethics, #1 being they agree to operate in a fair way to report the truth.\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00a0If it can be proven a licensed journalist did not follow that code of ethics, they could be stripped of their license. We do this with medical professionals, lawyers, and contractors.\u00a0 We should do it with journalists too. The bad ones are killing our nation!<\/p>\n Journalists and journalism have lost their credibility. That needs to change. Over time, differentiating journalists from commentators and advertisers will help the truth stand out.<\/p>\n Although the criticism will surly arise, this plan is also clearly NOT the government creating a \u201cministry of truth.\u201d<\/strong> Demand Real Journalism will help raise the credibility of journalism by passing guidelines and restrictions. Journalists themselves will be tasked with digging to find the actual truth.\u00a0 Good journalists love doing that.\u00a0 Given a bit of time, truth and lies will become more obvious.\u00a0 Real journalism will prevail and regain the public trust.<\/p>\n PEOPLE WILL EVENTUALLY REGAIN TRUST IN REAL JOURNALISTS<\/strong><\/p>\n The COVID pandemic has given us a start in that direction.\u00a0 Studies of sickness and death rates<\/a> have clearly shown that consumers of conservative news outlets believe more disinformation about COVID, so tend to not get the vaccine, which leads to them dying more often.\u00a0 \u00a0Any media figure screaming about the vaccine and masks not being effective is lying to you.<\/strong>\u00a0 There is a mountain of evidence to support this fact, but the vaccine deniers are still given credibility by many media outlets.\u00a0 \u00a0I truly hope a class-action lawsuit comes about someday for the lies leading to unnecessary deaths.<\/p>\n Create a journalism licensing board.<\/strong>\u00a0 Under Demand Real Journalism, anyone calling themselves a journalist must be licensed.\u00a0 If they do not want to abide by the code of ethics and the law defining journalism, then they can not legally call themselves a journalist.\u00a0 They would have to use another word that is legally defined, such as commentator, although I favor propaganda peddler.\u00a0 Doing it this way, there is no censorship.\u00a0 Demand Real Journalism does not make anyone shut up, it just makes them label it correctly as real news, advertising, or baloney.<\/p>\n Needless to say, this board would have to be non-political.<\/strong> It should be made up of a cross-section of academics and respected professionals. This board needs to be as transparent and as credible as possible.\u00a0 They would have long term jurisdictional powers and will watch over the news media to make sure they are practicing real journalism.<\/p>\n Additionally, there needs to be a\u00a0licensing level for organizations that claim to be doing journalism<\/strong>. The organizations can use it as a badge of credibility, and either embrace the act or discard it, but they must be public about their stance. In other words, the organizations themselves are identifying whether they actually agree with the journalism definitions and legal restrictions. Over time, people who are now confused will come to have confidence in REAL JOURNALISM.\u00a0 This won\u2019t happen overnight.<\/strong><\/p>\n While I wish it had never been repealed by Ronald Reagan, bringing The Fairness Doctrine back today is fairly impractical due to the immense changes in the news media between now and the 80s. So many outlets would immediately be exempt and could continue on as they are now.\u00a0 The concept was based on the TV industry using the “public airwaves” so they had to serve the public interest.\u00a0 Cable and the internet don’t use the public airwaves, but they do use infrastructure. The Fairness Doctrine was a federal regulation that basically made media outlets prove they were being fair with coverage in order to have their license renewed.\u00a0 In my early days working in TV news, I remember all the station big-wigs sweating out the report to list all the many ways we had shown fairness over the year.<\/p>\n DRJ Act should include something similar in order to retain Demand Real Journalism status, but alone, bringing back the FD isn’t enough for the reasons stated above.\u00a0 \u00a0 Cable news actually helped make the FD\u00a0 obsolete.\u00a0 \u00a0DRJ needs to cover any organization or individual that claims to be doing news, regardless of how they communicate with their audience.<\/p>\n As it is, I don’t pretend this plan is perfect, but it’s the best I can come up with by myself.\u00a0 I hope other people can add their 2 cents and improve upon my basic idea.\u00a0 We have to do something.\u00a0 We can not let lies and a false rendering of “free speech” ruin this country.\u00a0 A “free press” should not include allowing blatant and obvious lies by news media figures.\u00a0<\/strong> We have an opportunity to craft a law to reign this nonsense in.\u00a0 Let’s do it.\u00a0 Or come up with a better idea!<\/p>\n Lorraine Grula, News Nerd and journalism advocate<\/strong><\/p>\n Here are 15 articles on the blog for Demand Real Journalism, plus one about me, in case that is a concern.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Demand Real Journalism: How Will It Fix This Mess?<\/a><\/p>\n Letter to POTUS for Demand Real Journalism<\/a><\/p>\n Demand Real Journalism: Democracy Depends on Journalism and the Founding Fathers Knew It<\/a><\/p>\n Why Reality and Facts Matter. A Well-Functioning Media is Critical for Freedom in America<\/a><\/p>\n More Thoughts on Fixing the News Media\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Demand Real Journalism: Let\u2019s First Define Journalism<\/a><\/p>\n The 11 Biggest Reasons Why News Media Is Failing Democracy, Part 1<\/a><\/p>\n The 11 Biggest Reasons Why TV News is Failing Democracy, Part 2<\/a><\/p>\n The 11 Biggest Reasons Why News Media is Killing Democracy, part 3<\/a><\/p>\n The 11 Biggest Reasons Why News Media is Killing Democracy, part 4<\/a><\/p>\n Demand Real Journalism: How Dysfunctional News Media Affects EVERYTHING!\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Demand Real Journalism: It All Started with the Sweaty Brow of a Homely Man\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n Demand Real Journalism: Why I Embrace \u201cDare to be Dull\u201d as a TV News Slogan<\/a><\/p>\n Why Relying on an Advertising Business Model Dooms Journalism<\/a><\/p>\n![\"media](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/news-media-logos-2.jpg?resize=566%2C333&ssl=1\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"alex](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/alex-jones2.jpg?resize=549%2C343&ssl=1\")
What is REAL JOURNALISM?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The Demand Real Journalism Act would be multi-faceted and attack the problem from several fronts.<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nMany people argue that the Fairness Doctrine should be brought back. <\/h3>\n
\nAll this makes reinstatng the Fairness Doctrine a little tricky, but I think we can solve that by using the same concepts worked into the definition of journalist and code of ethics.<\/p>\n![\"early](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/early-television-brodcasting-antenna-age.jpg?resize=819%2C320&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nWhat was the Fairness Doctrine and what did it do?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nPlease consider signing the Demand Real Journalism petition<\/a>.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Support Demand Real Journalism fundraiser.<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n