MUSINGS and other writing by Mark Kolke

 

IN PRAISE OF OLD-SCHOOL

 

 

We see the headlines, the banners. On TV, on our devices, emails and snail mail too – and where we used to see it, the only place we used to see it: BREAKING NEWS.

 

 

 

Now, I’m more inclined to think: BROKEN NEWS.

 

 

 

Let’s start with the word NEWS.

 

 

 

What is the origin of that?

 

 

 

N for north, E for east, W for west, and S for south – something every schoolchild learns, and we take the term for granted as if it means something.

 

 

 

There was a time when it did.

 

 

 

Old-school types like me start our days with inky pinkies from reading morning newspapers.

 

 

 

Reports indicate that, of people who consume news, 30% get it only from social media.

 

 

 

This doesn’t mean 70% get it from more credible sources – because, let’s face it, how many people consume news as part of their daily diet?

 

 

 

Many skip breakfast too.

 

 

 

When I’m rushed, I skip breakfast sometimes, and it doesn’t bother me.

 

 

 

On the other hand, missing my news-start is discomforting every time, which leaves me feeling disconnected.

 

 

 

A childhood friend taught me the best way to start any day: breakfast and a newspaper. A permitted and encouraged modification involves waking up with a lover in a favourable mood. (this was not information from the childhood friend – but from plenty of trial and error experiments of my own).

 

 

 

Otherwise, put the coffee on and unfurl that newspaper!

 

 

 

Media, the deliverer of NEWS (however we struggle to define that today,) is being eroded/degraded; some is the inevitable improvement of technology. But we’re losing, is trust.

 

 

 

News media, entertainment media, and social media – are an over-democratization of speech.

 

 

 

Speech is free.

 

 

 

So is shouting.

 

 

 

So is being quiet.

 

 

 

So is writing the truth.

 

 

 

Exercising freedom and influencing others might not always be fair-minded, correct, or legal – so I’ll continue to get a new start every day with an old-school NEWS start.

 

 

 

The world of journalism is changing rapidly – technology and social media are culprits, soon to be eclipsed by ChatGBT when it provides stories written by software, and we’ll be hard-pressed to tell them apart from those reported by trained journalists who were there, saw and heard things, understood context, history and other colliding issues.

 

 

 

Yes, high-standard journalists intent on telling watchers and readers important stories (essential for us to know – for decisions we make, how we vote, invest, spend, plan, or run away fast …) in a fulsome contextual fashion. That old-school journalist is becoming an endangered species at risk of disappearing forever.

 

 

 

I am pained for those journalists who are dedicated tellers of fact and providers of context. Without them, what we know about what is going on in the world, from outside our door to foreign shores, will be prepared by someone or something designed to make us believe what they want us to believe or how they expect us to feel.

 

 

 

Who should ever think they have that right – should be exposed and separated in the penalty box holding people we pay no heed.

 

 

 

History reminds us of despots who weren’t restrained and waged real war and disinformation campaigns on battlefields, including those doing it now. Some of those battlefields are dirty political campaigns where sound ideas are ridiculed, and ‘alternative facts’ are masqueraded as the real thing.

 

 

 

Too many, still, are actual battlefields where real blood is spilled, limbs and bodies are being left on the battlefield, crudely and hurriedly buried, along with truth …

 

 

 

I read yesterday that Meta (Facebook and other platforms) intend to allow a particularly disgraceful former celebrity, former politician, and purported billionaire convicted corporate fraud artist back onto their platform. And we are reminded they fact-check anything, so we should expect the social-media landscape to resemble an old wild-west lawlessness before it gets better.

 

 

 

Hopefully, we won’t lose sight of our ability to read, hear, and understand the information before we come to any conclusion or understanding.  Some, I’m sure, will rely on an APP to read or listen to the news for them, but I hope most people won’t.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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