This Article is translated by DeepL. The original Article in German language can be find here.
I am just reading a book " Generation Doof" is the title. ( The book is in German Language)
The book is from the mid 2000s and highlights the generations X and Y.
One chapter made me think, one chapter about news and journalism.
More or less at the same time I heard on TV how a satirist briefly illuminated the same topic in the present time.
Nowadays, on all channels, some more and others less, the situations of the different countries during the corona crisis and their protective measures are covered almost 24/7. It is felt that 95% of each news programme is covered by Coronanews.
The 25th virologist is asked for an assessment, politicians justify their actions, doctors report on their needs and the lack of adequate protective equipment. In the further course of the interview, people on the streets are interviewed and asked for their opinion. At the latest afterwards, the entire aid packages for the economy and the population are discussed.
The topics covered are actually always the same and in the meantime some experts have established themselves who give their opinion across all channels.
We see a very similar picture in the newspapers and on the websites of the various public broadcasters.
What is noticeable is that the consequences of all these measures are spoken about very hesitantly and yet they are played down.
It is not a question of whether we are sliding into an economic crisis or not, it is a question of perhaps having to think about the various consequences and also reporting on them.
How is the population supposed to assess the protection and aid measures taken if they are not aware of the possible effects?
The problem is not new and has spread insidiously.
Take the Watergate scandal from the early seventies. The journalists Woodward and Bernstein of the Washington Post, through investigation, perseverance and courage, uncovered a wiretapping scandal and forced Richard Nixon to resign.
In the 70s, 80s and 90s, Günter Walraff uncovered a number of abuses and brought some of the masterminds and elites into great difficulty in explaining the situation.
In the news and newspapers they tried, as far as possible, to show all aspects of a situation to give the reader or viewer the opportunity to form his own opinion.
Of course, the choice of facts was also subjective, but at least they had tried to report as objectively as possible.
They also made a very clear distinction between what is really important and what is not. This distinction was also subjective but the Jom Kippur War was more important than the fight between Tina and Ike Turner.
And today?
Investigative journalism still exists, but it rarely makes it into the news or newspapers. News reports are one-sided and often present ready-made opinions and very rarely show the whole picture of a situation. Possible consequences of the persons or institutions involved are often completely ignored. Politicians who are obviously incapable are promoted and nobody gets upset about it. In Nixon's time they would have been forced to resign, also because the population could better understand the circumstances.
The marriage of Mrs Klum and Mr Kaulitz is today at least as important as the refugee situation in the Mediterranean.
In the book mentioned at the beginning, this circumstance is attributed to the education of generations X and Y. I cannot and do not want to judge whether this is really the case. It is argued that a certain general education is needed to be able to classify objective and comprehensive information. But this general education seems to be missing, therefore prefabricated opinions are preferred and one still has the feeling to be well informed.
If today Trump, Bolsonaro, Johnson and a few other morons change their statements within a few days from " Corona is just a harmless flu" to " we are at war against the virus", only few people are disturbed. However, these changes of direction reveal the complete incapacity of these ladies and gentlemen and yet there are no consequences.
It may be due to the sheer amount of news that rushes in on us almost every minute and makes it much more difficult to evaluate the news. But in the past, newspapers and news were there for exactly this purpose. Firstly, filtering and determining the relevance and secondly, the most objective possible preparation of the individual news.
Here too, it is clear that neither the filtering nor the editing took place quite objectively, but at least an attempt was made to do so.
I am really very curious how the news and newspapers will report when the corona crisis is over and suddenly everybody realizes that we are sliding into an economic crisis that has washed away.
In that sense.
Tschüss Euch
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
