Saturday, June 6, 2015

The Providence Journal (and RI Media): Not "Providen" Enough

From the Providence Journal
The Fourth Estate is in a bad estate in Rhode Island.

Just look at the above picture. The copy could not identify the base location for the report without making a mistake. The newspaper industry is already hitting harder times, with online media eating up the market share, but editing is next to godliness, and for the front page column to present mistakes like the above, no one should be surprised to see the ProJo turning into the NoGo.

Don't get me wrong. Things are not looking too good for the press in California, either, as the left-leaning Los Angeles Times  just bought up the more conservative San Diego Union-Tribune. One conglomerate will control the reporting in major newspapers throughout Southern California. That in itself will not bode well for eager readers looking for the full story.

The Los Angeles Times has routinely, and in petty fashion, attacked Texas, even though the Lone Star state continues poaching businesses, residents, and thus creators, makers, and taxpayers from welfare-ridden, subsidized California. The paper published an empty attack against a US Senate candidate in Missouri because of a few comments about rape (in tabloid fashion), and even dedicated its front page to another, Democratic, US Senate candidate running for reelection in Alaska (Mark Begich, who lost by four points last year).

The Los Angeles Times was in such disarray, that now-retired Congressman Henry Waxman wanted to probe the financing and restructuring of the paper last year, too. Perhaps Congressmen James Langevin or "Grand Theft Auto" David Cicilline should consider donating their considerable campaign cash to salvage their state's liberal mouthpieces, too.

The same failures, from biased liberal propaganda to falling subscriptions,  apply to Rhode Island - and one of the reasons? The failure of the media to hold the powers that be accountable.

From WPRI to the Providence Journal, it appears that the newspaper industry is all about carrying water for the big (Democratic) lobbies and interest groups. Now they cannot bother to edit and rewrite their copy. Despite recent efforts for greater transparency from state leaders, the statewide media do nothing more than report on the decline, and without doing anything to get people angry enough to do something about it.

In 2014, the ProJo demanded a change in leadership and representation, then went ahead and endorsed all the Democratic candidates for statewide and federal office. Even The Los Angeles Times endorsed outsider Democrats and Republicans for statewide office, even though the California Democracy swept the top offices.

Let's face it: from the poor editing, to the non-investigative journalism, to the increasing number of softball questions from statewide reporters, the RI media is just not "Providen" enough.

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