While many people out there want to blame the media for fake news because of right or left leanings, I have often argued that is not the problem at all, it’s the news rooms being owned by their sponsors. Back in the day of old timey news the news room separated itself from the ad room, they practically share a desk now.

We don’t have to look to Fox, CNN or MSNBC we can look locally. How many negative stories have we heard about the major healthcare providers in Sioux Falls? Not many. There was even a large car dealership fined once for fraudulent advertising practices by the Feds, and one TV station didn’t even mention their name (or is it there name)?

Even local politicians are not challenged. As I have pointed out, there are hundreds of verifiable research studies about the harm of TIFs done by some the nations leading universities economic departments, basically they never pay for themselves, but not one single media group in South Dakota has done a comprehensive story about the negative effects of TIFs.

It is, as Mr. Oliver points out, because they are owned by their sponsors. This is the problem with the media. It has little to nothing to do with politics.

14 Thoughts on “This is the problem with the Media

  1. D@ily Spin on May 25, 2021 at 7:16 am said:

    So true and rather obvious. PBS is one way to get news left out but there’s no local stuff. Blogs bring out some of the hidden content but they can be bias. FOX is most guilty of spreading propaganda. One hears what they want you to hear then they drill it in with talk and oriented interviews.

  2. media bias on May 25, 2021 at 8:11 am said:

    apparently mr. spin, you don’t watch msnbc. can’t point all the propaganda fingers at fox. the lack of coverage of stories at cnn and msnbc are just as telling…i.e cuomo and wuhan lab. as to scott’s points, i also think that many (most) in our local media just aren’t very bright. much easier to do the same story on potholes than it is to actually do some research. but i can attest, local stories are squelched by big advertisers every single day.

  3. SD Low Wages Low Costs on May 25, 2021 at 8:45 am said:

    Advertisements disguised as news stories.

  4. Very Stable Genius on May 25, 2021 at 9:51 am said:

    EXHIBIT A:

    Local reporter interviews our mayor about the Village on the River project, but then there are no follow-up questions.

  5. Name thankfully no longer in quotes on May 25, 2021 at 10:01 am said:

    You got one right! Good job.

  6. WillyNilly on May 25, 2021 at 10:59 am said:

    Been a news junkie since I complained to Dad that he took the Argus to work and left me only the comic section. Once it was decided that newsrooms had to make money, information provided to the public was corrupted at all levels. I get most of my national/international news from PBS and I also read local blogs with the understanding that there is a lot of bias there. Our local outlets seem to have an understanding as to who gets to cover what as well as what all can cover. I really hate being manipulated but this is what we have in the current profit oriented newsroom.

  7. Mike Lee Zitterich on May 25, 2021 at 11:50 am said:

    You all do realize the C.F.R or Council of Foreign Relations in the 1920’s purchased the rights to the top 100 News papers in order to control what is printed and seen in the papers, today has expanded to Television, Hollywood, and Social Media in what has become known as the “National Media or Associated Press.

    The large Multi-National Corporations led by John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P Morgan Chase, and Henry Ford were the leaders who established the C.F.R. Hence it’s moniker is known as Chase-Ford-Rockefeller.

    This group has since purchased the rights to local companies such as Kelo, Argus Leader, and KSFY making them local partners in order to push specific content.

    This was a direct action in retaliation of the Federal Govt going after, seeking to break up Standard Oil and all the Monopolies that existed prior to 1920; whereas in 1909 when the Congress passed the law to create a “Corporate Excise Tax” in order to collect revenue from these Corporations, which then would be used for Defense, Foreign Policy, this “GROUP” then organizes to control that policy, hence “Council of Foreign Relations” led by the very Corporations that pay the “tax”.

    Hence – the CORPORATE EXCISE TAX was born to set foreign policies, hence the true meaning of “MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS doing business across State borders.

    McDonalds, Target, Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, Pizza Hut, Popeyes, Walmart, Amazon, to name a few….

  8. media bias on May 25, 2021 at 12:52 pm said:

    genius-
    either a, they don’t know what to ask because they’re inexperienced, uninformed or just plain lazy…or b they’re just reading the press release and following along because that’s what they were told to do. i suspect it’s a bit of both and neither would surprise me.

  9. Scott D Hudson on May 25, 2021 at 1:46 pm said:

    It was almost 30 years ago that I did a Tempest cover story where I analyzed a full week of local news on all three channels. I was shocked then at how few actual news stories were broadcast. By far, “advertorials” exceeded “real” news, and it wasn’t just the hospitals and car lots. Lewis Drug, for example, was one that received almost as much of that phony good will.

  10. "Woodstock" on May 25, 2021 at 6:31 pm said:

    “What about the Trilateral Commission?”…. “Are we still worried about them, too”…. “Oh, and I see that ‘Ntnliq’ is still around and obsessing”….. #””””””””””””””””

  11. My Mistake Mike on May 26, 2021 at 12:47 pm said:

    The problem goes much deeper. Local news stations aren’t truly “local” any more. In Sioux Falls, they’re owned by two of the uber-largest media conglomerates in the country – Nexstar (KELO) and Gray (KSFY, KDLT, KTTW). Same for Rapid City and Sioux City, too.

    Their newsrooms hire mostly young and cheap – they share many of the same feature story ideas with the other 100+ stations in their group. Former sales managers are in charge of each station, and ownership doesn’t care about the content as long as the profit-margin is sound.

    Thank you, Larry Pressler.

  12. Very Stable Genius on May 26, 2021 at 2:47 pm said:

    …. and Tom Daschle and Bill Clinton. Tim Johnson, however, voted against it.

  13. I would agree. I seen Kelo do a heart surgery story about the Austads owner. Obviously this is not news, but just an add for Austads and the hospital. Sales tax on advertising is long overdue.

    Lazy ad based reporting is name of the game.

  14. Fear & Loathing in Sioux Falls on May 27, 2021 at 1:40 pm said:

    It’s about time for another food truck story. I am getting hungry, for that.

    On the ten year anniversary next January, maybe KELO can rerun their once week long eulogy of Janklow, huh?

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