Maybe it runs deeper than I thought?

My previous article, below, concerns why we need professional journalists and when I tweeted this, I lost more followers than any other tweet, so it made me think.

Just because the law needs to be respected and our media organizations are firing long standing voices with the journalistic vernacular I did not mean to sound like I particularly appreciated them, nor necessarily those left behind, neither.

The broad public have noticed how their rights in relation to their governments are more democratic now that the establishment media do not rule what is published - however legal responsibilities exist. Previously, when a tabloid did something that was covered by defamation laws, there was a pile of money for redress of such terrible sins. If you commit contempt of court as a journalist, then it may be career advancing as your media body rescues your butt from her majesty's service.

But, if a blogger comments on what an outcome in a trial should be, and they have a following who spread their view, they may feel immune from contempt charges as they are publishing to a "club" or select audience. In other words, privately.

This difference between public and private is indeed a sticky one. If for example I were to tweet the winning numbers in the next national lottery, the outcome is most likely to be a number of fools who take my word for it and rush down to the local newsagent. That is a system the truth can not cheat due to the nature of time.

But if I were to simply say I thought that Jack the Ripper was guilty as charged, then Jack may end up citing my prejudice as swaying the jury leaving him free to execute a few more sex workers with few legal hassles. Not such a great outcome.

Professional journalists are becoming extincted by free alternatives. How many other professions are facing similar redundancy due to evolving efficiency? You can not object to the phasing out of the old as we rush for the new, but in some cases we must hesitate. For example, TXTSPK is all well and good but is not a reason to forgo the beauty of the English Language.

But perhaps the problem with the media is that polarisation that used to work for them now does not. In some small way, Jerry Springer brought Oprah more viewers and vice versa. Now, the audience is far more cynical. The turn off factor is far greater now that you can get TV from all sorts of different places. Not just an authoritarian filter. Not just what the Press Barons have colluded with The Powers That Be should be inflated by the breath of authority.