It’s the dog that so many of us have been talking about when describing the news media, particularly the TV media, over the last decade or so. Probably longer. It’s about silence in the face of actual news. It’s about not reporting news.
The newspapers used to bury those stories deep inside and below the fold. But at least they printed most of the important stories somewhere.
Now that's largely irrelevant because the number of people who get their news from the newspapers has dwindled to include only a few dimwits. Most of the people who read actual physical papers today do so for the food ads, the sports page, perhaps some local events, and the obits. The obit they don’t include is their own.
Nowadays, relatively few people hang on to the old habits, like watching CNN or the network triumvirate our parents used to get their news from. Long gone are the Cronkites of their day. People caught on and moved on.
The title of this article, “The Dog That Didn't Bark," is a phrase coined by John Kass in a recent article. You can read the great article at John Kass News. It inspired this commentary. The dog reference is in a somewhat different context in his article.
There are many old school journalists still working. But many have fled the old media and embraced the independence of writing on their own sites or sites such as this one, Substack, where this article is hosted.
It’s where people like Glenn Greenwald still do the real reporting that the old media is trying to hide. These real reporters have long memories and understand contextual reporting. It is where a rapidly growing number of people are getting their news and opinions today.
I subscribe to their writing. Some of them subscribe to mine. An increasing number of writers at Substack are included in that group. That’s humbling in a world where I could never have gotten a paycheck from the now moribund old media. That world was closed to me. I was lucky as it turns out.
The future of independent writing has left the bewildered old media reporters waiting on the corner for a bus that doesn’t come anymore.
Dare I say, it’s a fundamental change? Dare we ask what the implications are for book publishers as this develops?
Still some useful work by old guard Chicago media but as you note, way too much they won’t touch. Bias can certainly be what’s left off the table. And more is left off now. I think the challenge for thoughtful alternative voices in new new media is to add value, often with data, and to do it all in a certain way without a lot of partisan rancor. As Ron Burgundy said, keep it classy, San Diego.
"The obit they don’t include is their own." Ha Ha, clever. Nothing here made me bark, but I will spread this around to my Dinosaur friends who still don't "get" the news media evolution. Really, it's fundamental.