@fluffy @laurel @p @miscbrains @ForbiddenDreamer @realFapster BESIDES,
IF JOURNALISM AND MASS PRESS PERFORM A VALUABLE PRO-SOCIAL FUNCTION WHICH HAD BEEN LOST OR CORRUPTED IN THE PRESENT AGE,

SHOULDN'T WE BE ABLE TO READ FIRST WITNESS ACCOUNTS OF THAT FUNCTION BEING PERFORMED IN THE MANY JOURNALS AND DIARIES FROM THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD ONWARD?

WHY IS IT THAT EVEN IN THE DAYS OF POWDERED WIGS THE MOST PROMINENT MENTIONS OF THE PRESS ARE COMPLAINTS ABOUT HOW IT INVARIABLY EXISTS IN ONE OF ONLY TWO HYPOSTASES:
A SENSATIONALIST RAG THAT FUNDS ITSELF THROUGH PRINTING FALSEHOODS AND DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS
OR
AN INSTRUMENT OF POLITICAL PROPAGANDA FOR THE STATE OR A PARTY

AND THAT'S IT
AT NO POINT BETWEEN THE GUTENBERG BIBLE AND 9/11 HAD JOURNALISM EVER HAD A PRO-SOCIAL FUNCTION
THE OCCASIONAL BENEFITS OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM ARE SO RARE AS TO BE EFFECTIVELY ACCIDENTAL
AND ALMOST ALWAYS A FUNCTION OF THE AUTHOR'S PERSONALITY, NOT THE INSTITUTION OF MASS MEDIA

JOURNALISM IS A MACHINE THAT EITHER TURNS LIES INTO MONEY TO FUND ITSELF, OR OPERATES AT A LOSS TO PROPAGATE THE FALSEHOODS ITS FINANCIERS WANT