The line between news and entertainment has been blurred by social media over the last decade because we have fewer people who are able to critically analyze, read for understanding, and think critically. Buckle up, it's only going to get worse. - ThreadSky

shanavwhite.bsky.social • 97 days ago

The line between news and entertainment has been blurred by social media over the last decade because we have fewer people who are able to critically analyze, read for understanding, and think critically.

Buckle up, it's only going to get worse.

Comments

a-man-has-no-king.bsky.social•97 days ago

So true

nls5.bsky.social•97 days ago

and more people reading in places they are in agreement with. But are the magas in agreement on greenland and panama and the gulf of mexico and canada?

nataliethistime.com•96 days ago

And now people blindly trusting chat gtp!

tomjones1875.bsky.social•97 days ago

And that's just the journalists

username2000.bsky.social•96 days ago

https://bookshop.org/p/books/amusing-ourselves-to-death-public-discourse-in-the-age-of-show-business-neil-postman/6781325

It's been going on way longer than that

adept2u.bsky.social•97 days ago

News has been entertainment for a couple of decades now since every newsgathering organization closed its newsgathering bureaus.

votecnp.bsky.social•97 days ago

Right frankly it's a post truth era. Politics is now a cross between reality TV and WWE. It's not clear to me that we will survive it, but the more we work to protest and stop it as soon as possible the better!

We need to show them it will be a fight the whole way. Drag will slow them down.

aofaria.bsky.social•97 days ago

The reason yellow journalism is making a comeback is because *someone* decided to piss on it

gdub1999.bsky.social•97 days ago

That's all by design. It's easier to control people in mass if they're uneducated. Education is now seen as feminine and we all know people are terrified of being seen as a sub-class of people.

yogibean.bsky.social•96 days ago

It's all a reality TV show for Trump, where he always needs to be the star on the screen.

oddfellow97.bsky.social•97 days ago

Not by just social media. But media itself

News organisations don’t care about the truth anymore just what gets clicks

It’s why we get Gell Mann amnesia running rampant

titanyen.bsky.social•97 days ago

I'd think you meant to say that the line between news and entertainment has been blurred by the legacy media. You know: Mostly blonde talking heads, Trump 24/7, Stormy, Melania, no interviews with policy makers, puff pieces, etc.
Whereas social media: Gaza Genocide, homeless vets, school lunch debts

cobrastall.bsky.social•97 days ago

You forgot to mention “The View”

edciting.bsky.social•97 days ago

Turns out, just doing 24/7 straight cable TV news isn't economically viable.

This started before social media's ascendance, cable news networks had to fill time and started filtering in entertainment / opinion.

A grand experiment nonetheless, but a dead end.

gentrydixon.bsky.social•97 days ago

Critical thinking is a thing of the past, sadly..

foyah25.bsky.social•97 days ago

These is an issue which needs to be targeted for critical study cause there's a lot of disinformation out there put in place by people hiding behind the constitutional right to "free speech". I think that constitution should be amended to "Truthful verifiable speech".

egrattan.bsky.social•97 days ago

You want a Government Ministry of Truth?

Horrible idea.

foyah25.bsky.social•97 days ago

No. I just want people to be held liable for statements they make in public. If you have a platform from where you can influence people's decisions, don't you owe it to them to make sure the things you report are factual???
All I am saying is there is a lot of fake news in the media echo chamber.

egrattan.bsky.social•97 days ago

No, you want to shred the Constitution and create a Government Ministry of Truth over the press.

Maybe apply for Trump’s administration. They’d love your ideas.

lmn-slo.bsky.social•97 days ago

Redefine the word "news."
Separate out a word for information about current events that is first-person, evidence based (legal definition) reportage.
'News' hasn't been a reliable word for years now.
Most corrupted use? The "Fox News Network" logo bug.

lindapal.bsky.social•97 days ago

Our country is in critical condition

lagahoo.bsky.social•97 days ago

No child left behind combined with the lack of media literacy and then sprinkle on top the conspiratorial reflex people on social media have. The next decade looks bleak.

ccbaxter61.bsky.social•97 days ago

There is no line.

booradley31.bsky.social•97 days ago

What is this buckle up phrase, is it new?

michexposures.bsky.social•96 days ago

I'm going to pin it further back than that. I'm going to say whenever USA Today became a thing.

pillsbury37.bsky.social•97 days ago

re-institute the fairness doctrine.

karenfrombluesky.bsky.social•97 days ago

kids in school have given up critical thinking long ago. Teachers are rewarded for passing students , not teaching, and they’re all burnt out and tired

stev2024.bsky.social•97 days ago

Sadly

pinkybum.bsky.social•97 days ago

And that's just the mainstream media journalists.

ttrueman.bsky.social•97 days ago

I disagree to the extent that the blurring is a social media phenomenon, no agnoloigists and idiots desire to believe only the shit they wanna hear and believe. SM is only a tiny part of the willingness of "journalism" to abandon all ethics and just feed us the shit we demand.

idontgetit24.bsky.social•97 days ago

Therefore the masses can’t think for themselves and have to be told what to do by an entertainer

mountainflash.bsky.social•97 days ago

This is why Trump loves ignorant people. We need classes in schools that teach "critical thinking" because Americans are being brainwashed and don't understand what's happening.

gully1965.bsky.social•97 days ago

Or: Many prefer entertainment to thinking, even though they can think.

shohanabee76.bsky.social•97 days ago

Since the Humanities departments are deemed non-profitable & disposable, even less of these crucial skills are being taught.

didntcmecumin69.bsky.social•97 days ago

The Apprentice in 8k. Problem is we fired DJT once and didn’t learn anything about how corrupt he was, is and will be. Billionaire’s bought the White House, Elon want’s to make APARTHEID the AMERICAN WAY and Zuck want’s freedom of speech without fact checking. WTF !!!!!

sundayk.bsky.social•97 days ago

I remember when Bill Bonds in Detroit and Mike Landis in Denver reported the news like they were talking to you trying to make you understand.
Today the news is mostly slant given by people who took drama classes .
Find the rare exceptions.

k4rm4l4rm.bsky.social•97 days ago

I don't think it's been blurred, I think it's been merged. No one cares about world events anymore unless they have entertainment value.

thedisturbedmind.bsky.social•97 days ago

Capitalism is toxic, it gets I to everything and it is hard to get out. We are all swimming in it everyday, time to get out of the pool.

ksgrl24.bsky.social•97 days ago

I agree, but I've asked myself if there is actually a way to get out and still live.

tjk74.bsky.social•97 days ago

🚩🚩🚩

dgtldva.bsky.social•97 days ago

Indeed.

sadiemay37.bsky.social•97 days ago

The line between news and propaganda

kelley72.bsky.social•97 days ago

Yep. Reading is good. Comprehension is more important.

fedal11.bsky.social•97 days ago

I joke that it won't be long before people will be communicating solely with emoticons. People have the attention span of.......
...
...
...
...
..
.
sorry, got distracted by

mothersworkday.bsky.social•97 days ago

People want to get their news in 244 characters. It takes half a page in a newspaper to really tell the story.
Too many people do not want to read.

gip8.bsky.social•97 days ago

Sad but true

seat108.bsky.social•97 days ago

News outlets don't care about making money.

sunraa.bsky.social•97 days ago

Last decade? Since the late 1970s. Then it was called "Soft News"
https://shorensteincenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/soft_news_and_critical_journalism_2000.pdf

typomarx.bsky.social•97 days ago

Started long before that in the Raygun era when he gutted the Fairness Doctrine, fudged the rules to allow Rupert Murdock to become a citizen... and here we are.

envy2024.bsky.social•97 days ago

Also, Democrats attract more college educated than working people cuz we have to dumb down message for everyone to understand! Ya know like a fifth grader.

starchld269.bsky.social•97 days ago

As someone who paid dues in the entertainment industry for almost 40 yrs, I can tell you that for a fact the news is entertainment (almost entirely).
(imho, of course)

(but I'm a "nobody," so take my opinion w/ a grain of salt-lol)

thesameperson.bsky.social•97 days ago

Well said. Sensationalism over substance = the mainstream media's mantra.

starchld269.bsky.social•97 days ago

Agreed. 🎯

recombobulating.bsky.social•97 days ago

I think there are fewer people being employed to do those things. Especially in the media. But that doesn't mean people aren't doing them more generally.

mwplunkett.bsky.social•97 days ago

Started with TV news decades ago. TV News is an Oxymoron

nelagirl.bsky.social•97 days ago

It’s now just a “ Quick, look over here, Quick Look over there, Don’t look there. Look at the hand”. Distraction action to hide the truth.

oraclebungee.bsky.social•97 days ago

hollyinfrance.bsky.social•97 days ago

About 10 years ago, hubby & I pondered the disasters awaiting the US as a result of declining US education standards, especially the lack of courses teaching critical thinking. We never imagined it would happen so quickly. It’s terrifying.

eleonorakuijpers.bsky.social•97 days ago

Bang on! 💯%

bobhooker.bsky.social•96 days ago

Go watch the 1970s movie Network. Its about TV news being turned into Entertainment. This issue pre-dates even the World Wide Web. Its not the technology it is how we use it.

funcubng.bsky.social•97 days ago

Buckled in.

isawallofit.bsky.social•97 days ago

David Pakman lit a fire under my butt! Start teaching your children right now.

drnancyspierce.bsky.social•97 days ago

😩

nelfett.bsky.social•96 days ago

It started when Fox “news” started broadcasting!

eliangonzalez.bsky.social•97 days ago

"Buckle up"? You are already in a state of collapse, except you all keep treating this like climate change, with the wishful thinking you can change it or reverse it if just given the chance.

diannelou.bsky.social•97 days ago

I hate it that my generation seems to be the dumbest group of people to have ever existed.

oluadedeji.bsky.social•96 days ago

Well said Shana. Between Meta absolving itself of any content responsibility by removing fact-checking and X being full of rage baiters, I really don't see a solution any time soon.

Still early days, but we have Bluesky 🦋

stuartl49.bsky.social•97 days ago

The word is pled not pleaded! You don’t have to dumb it down for the dopes!

amberlink.bsky.social•97 days ago

Last decade? It ended with Walter Cronkite and the rise of Murdoch. Nice that you only just noticed FIVE decades later.

just-karen.bsky.social•97 days ago

Exactly what one of my doctors said yesterday.🤔

federicoleonyleon.bsky.social•97 days ago

yep

howshallwelive.bsky.social•97 days ago

Sad, but true. Do you think there is any way to change that? Or does it require a fundamentally different platform design?

seanpisano.bsky.social•97 days ago

I think we have plenty of people to do the work. People don't understand how expensive the work is. The rhythm of our lives have changed. Once the 24 hour new cycle became a thing it easier to fill that time with nonsense like Fox News. Make shit up we need the clicks.

vas01.bsky.social•97 days ago

Agree

sooceeq.bsky.social•97 days ago

Welcome to the new Dark Ages.

clgc.bsky.social•96 days ago

True. Finland figuring it out.

Remember years ago seeing a job posting at a major newspaper for a investigative reporter/journalist. Requirement: a MARKETING degree. ☹️

We desperately need a platform for the good journalists out there.

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2019/05/how-finland-is-fighting-fake-news-in-the-classroom/

jwb52z.bsky.social•97 days ago

Is it "Shah nuh" or "Shay nuh"?

cynthiadolliole.bsky.social•97 days ago

Sad but true😰

ksgrl24.bsky.social•97 days ago

You're completely right! Interesting fact: when Fox News was launched, it was meant to be an entertainment outlet, but Americans mistook it for news. Now we are where we are.

egrattan.bsky.social•95 days ago

Fox News was not launched as an entertainment outlet.

kooopsb.bsky.social•97 days ago

And every device is catering to their already skewed world view, reinforcing it. Yeehaw!

ralph02813.bsky.social•97 days ago

I tend to disagree I think news outlets blurred the line with programs like good morning American and the today show.

scoobij.bsky.social•97 days ago

I believe reality TV contributes greatly to this.

ninjapancakemix.bsky.social•97 days ago

It is but I just left X - and looking at Bsky and seeing that it's grown massively is pretty huge. I already really like it here - It might even become more mainstream when people are bored of being miserable and only interacted with by OF bots.

nightkidstudios.bsky.social•97 days ago

I'm actually convinced we have entered bizzaro world at this point

hudsonnash.bsky.social•97 days ago

So, in the end, it was the stupid that spelled our doom.

ninjapancakemix.bsky.social•97 days ago

Please tell me you've seen idiocracy.

aliciasonger.bsky.social•97 days ago

That's what I'm afraid of

allcatsarebastards.bsky.social•96 days ago

"If it bleeds it leads" circa 1890s William Randolph Hearst. Time truly is a flat circle.

metahandle.bsky.social•97 days ago

Well a critical mind might actually question whether you really have the evidence to prove fewer people are able to critically analyze etc…

Cause you too, do not wish to cultivate a critical audience. Opposite of the definition of audience. And you know that deep down.

irishkim.bsky.social•96 days ago

This is kind of the hippie's fault. After they marched on Washington in the '60s to protest the Vietnam war, they slowly started removing civics and economics from the high school curriculum. They tried to make it seem like they just needed to add some different classes and that wasn't important. 🤦

origmalami.bsky.social•97 days ago

Might it be the other way around? When a generation lacks news that isn’t entertainment, it becomes difficult to critically analyze anything, and they will avoid factual sources that aren’t as immediately digestible, right? We didn’t just start loosing critical thinking skills out of nowhere.

smartmove.bsky.social•97 days ago

Shut it all down on the 20th
Read a book, converse with friends and family, paint, sing, do chores anything but shop, (unless it’s local and in person). Do not watch tv, go online. Disconnect on the 20th.

myself11.bsky.social•97 days ago

That line was jumped over in the 90's/early 2000's. Jeff Zucker used to brag about creating "info-tainment" when he was in charge at the Today Show. It just gained speed with social media.

your-superfan.bsky.social•97 days ago

TMZ doing political segments is a sign of something not good.

jewskychai.bsky.social•97 days ago

It was blurred long ago ever since corporations were allowed to purchase our news outlets. 1988.

mokajoe.bsky.social•97 days ago

“News” in TV might as well have Mario Lopez reading it, LOL

thesameperson.bsky.social•97 days ago

Fascism 101: control the information. Do this effectively and you can control how people think.

lynnjbirds.bsky.social•97 days ago

It's not just news, it's in the workplace too. Trying to explain complex issues to people with the authority to address the complex issue is increasingly difficult. I don't know if is because they don't care or because they can't read and comprehend fully. Possibly both.

pha-q2mr45n47.bsky.social•97 days ago

Fox Rumors and Propaganda?

kellielv.bsky.social•97 days ago

No it started in the late 70's/ 80's with am news/talk radio.

sunraa.bsky.social•97 days ago

with Baba Wawa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcns3A-IHMQ

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