The legislature passes a budget that runs counter to what any group of citizens you care to define opposes. That is a representative government FAIL by definition. It is not partisan.

You seem to be arguing that media in California is bad because they aren’t rnning news pieces attacking the “criminal” legislature. But then, a news story loses legitimacy if it attacks its subjects.

See, I’ve always felt that was rather naive and sadly idealized POV on the media. I want rabid news hounds out nipping at the heels of elected officials to keep them honest. Failing that, expose them to the point the resign in shame, or fake shame- either way is fine with me as long as they get the heck outta Sacramento or D.C.

Where are the Woodwards & Bernsteins of the current generation? Where is the real investigative reporting that does not involve Paris Hilton or Octomom?

Did you ever read the Transmetropolitan graphic novels by Warren Ellis?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmetropolitan

The main character, Spider Jerusalem, fits my mold of the ideal journalist. Here’s a quote from the character:

“I want to see humans talking about human life personally. I want to see people who give a (bleep) about the world. I want… I want to see posessed journalists! YES! I want to see people like me rising up with hate, laying about them with fiery eyes and steaming genetalia–possessed by ancient volcano gods from the Polynesian islands, waving vast breasts and improbable p*nises at the secret chiefs of the world–naked glowing god-journalists browntrousering the naughty twenty-four hours a day, a new planet earth!”

Now *THAT* would be journalism I could respect. Heck, I’d go back to college and become a journalist. Might still do it if I can retire from my current career early enough.

By defintion, that’s a partisan opinion. You seem to be arguing that media in California is bad because they aren’t rnning news pieces attacking the “criminal” legislature. But then, a news story loses legitimacy if it attacks its subjects.

… just how far his profession has fallen…

Every pressure, every temptation and every bias that allegedly has afficted traditional media is equally at play in all of the new platforms trumpeted as replacing it.

…Colbert… O’Reilly… Stewart…

All comedians, although one is an unintentional fool. News exists on these shows only to set up the comic bits. (O’Reilly does the same thing as the others, except that he spins a rant rather than a joke.) People who claim to get their news from these shows are fundamentally ill-informed.

Those make the rounds at my work every so often, and this is a place where more than half of the people have graduate degrees in technical and scientific fields. I’m constantly responding with links to the relevant pages on snopes.com. It tends to be the urban myths that might somehow affect people personally, like the one about the gang initiation where they supposedly drive in a car at night without their headlights, and the initiate is supposed to shoot the driver of the first car that blinks their lights as a reminder.

Absolute 100% pure ignorant BULL. The last budget, full of regressive taxes for which there were MANY alternatives, was opposed by *every* group polled, no matter how you sliced the data. By race, by Party, by gender, by favorite color… it didn’t matter- universally opposed. The California legislature is no longer a representative government, and is on the verge of becoming criminal in the eyes of many folks of many ideological persuasions. For frak’s sake you played the exact “marginalize the opposition” card I described like a programmed little robot. You are what the political class refers to as a useful idiot. Get out of your unreality bubble and smell the truth.

A Journalist Says: Journalism is an art, and it is a vital one to the success of our country. Journalists are the people who call out the government.

And when will that be happening, exactly? Your profession is swiftly falling below that of lawyers in terms of public opinion. I’d trust a strung out junkie before I trusted most of the vermin who call pose as journalists these days. You guys botched Bush. You are botching Obama. The California state government is regularly fellated by local news media despite their Biblical proportion failures. Your words are empty and speak of a fantasy world that does not exist.

The Los Angeles Times, for example, isn’t dying because of the Internet. It’s dying because they print absolute nonsense on a daily basis.

There’s a scene in a Tom Clancy book (I forget which one. He went way downhill after Debt Of Honor) that I thought made the point nicely. An old time journalist is teamed up with a new hotshot reporter. They are chasing some guy around trying to get a story. The guy finally turns to the reporters and says, “Why should I trust you? You’re journalists!” And this hits the old time guy really hard. He realizes just how far his profession has fallen.

And I live in a world where people get their “news” from places like Steven Colbert… NOT JOURNALISM.

Totally agreed here. I remember checking out Colbert to see what the buzz was, and after three episodes I was like, “Is this all he does? A bad O’Reilly parody? I don’t like O’Reilly, so why do I want to watch the same bad parody over and over?” I can’t stand John Stewert, either. Nothing to do with the politics. It’s his constant mugging and overacting to the camera. It’s tiresome after just a few minutes.

Show me a blog which consistently posts honest, balanced, unbiased, and thoroughly researched posts that investigate serious topics.

And then show me any typical American who can tell the difference between editorializing and good journalism.

Also, it is a mistake to call journalism my profession–I am still a student journalist. And I live in a world where people get their “news” from places like Steven Colbert… NOT JOURNALISM. It is unfortunate that people with opinions are considered journalists these days. The solution is not to throw your hands up in the air and give up on the profession altogether; the solution is to stop the spread of ignorance and to help the public renew their faith in it.

Let’s imagine what would happen if every real reporter started producing stories no more than 140 characters long.