(October 12, 2019 at 8:22 am)Brian37 Wrote:(October 12, 2019 at 8:08 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Google was kind enough to inform me that there are something over 49 000 broadcast journalists in the US. I don't think Mr. Smith's absence is going to seriously damage anything.
Boru
Boru still not the point.
You are making the false assumption that journalism is a given, and in reality, if a disturbed person in a position of power can convince enough people to follow them, that can be destroyed. We have seen that before in human history, I wouldn't assume journalism is a given. Like any society, it still depends on enough people wanting to defend it, and it is paramount to fight those in power who attack the institutions that act as a check on power.
Free and open societies are not something you take for granted, they take constant vigilance to defend.
There are journalists in western history that set a positive model such as Walter Cronkite and Murrow. But not all journalists have big bullhorns, and constantly have to fight people like Murdoch who seek to destroy journalistic objectivity. Shep had a bigger bullhorn than say, a small town reporter or small town newspaper reporter.
Yes we have tons of journalists, but it still takes a society to want to defend them. And right now we have a POTUS who is seeking to destroy any challenge to his power, and I take that very seriously.
How can it not be the point? I addressed the exact point that you made - that Smith's absence is somehow going to damage journalism.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson