The Sad State of the Estate

Ted Koppel on the Fourth Estate with Charlie Rose 10-28-16: 

 "(Journalism) is a real disaster... 

"There was a day when people in our end of the business (broadcast journalism) genuinely felt that we had a mission out there to give the American public the news that it needed...  

"ABC, NBC, CBS -- among the three of them -- had more than a hundred correspondents forty years ago -- a hundred! -- based all around the world, gathering information. These days, I'd be surprised if they have twenty among the three of them... 

 "Listen to NPR in the morning and listen to the BBC for an hour. And just take note of how many important events are taking place around the world that are never covered on American radio and television.

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I and my brethren have bemoaned the decline of journalism for many years. For me, this sense of woe is not so much about us as it is about Americans' growing disinterest in learning and keeping up on news and issues that matter, whether they realize it or not. 

Khrushchev once vowed to conquer the U.S. from within. Although he didn't live to see it happen, Americans' present madness of gossip, rumor, and titillation which permeates today's "news" is doing it for him.