I agree, wholeheartedly. I would also like to add this about what is going on in the UK:
There is no local news. Remember in the olden days when there were local papers that people did actually pay for? I delivered them as a child and I did find them rather dull at the time. However, looking back, you could have small ads and sports news that would reach a target audience of locals. There were also syndicated articles, e.g. new car reviews, that were okay to read. If something actually happened in town, e.g. a book signing, a gig or even a jumble sale then it would be in there. Things the council wanted to tell you were in there. Then there were letters, probably one of the more interesting pages.
The problem nowadays in the UK is not just national/global news it is also with the local news. We have the Internet and those local papers have moved online, however, it is not working.
As for the relationship the press have with the politicians, the press need access or else they cannot write anything. So they have to do as they are told to get that access.
Most of what passes for news in UK papers is stuff cribbed from the news wires. This means that it is a very easy system to game - get your story on the news wire and it will make it to print. Meanwhile, you try and get some investigative journalism of your own creation into the papers - impossible!
There is no local news. Remember in the olden days when there were local papers that people did actually pay for? I delivered them as a child and I did find them rather dull at the time. However, looking back, you could have small ads and sports news that would reach a target audience of locals. There were also syndicated articles, e.g. new car reviews, that were okay to read. If something actually happened in town, e.g. a book signing, a gig or even a jumble sale then it would be in there. Things the council wanted to tell you were in there. Then there were letters, probably one of the more interesting pages.
The problem nowadays in the UK is not just national/global news it is also with the local news. We have the Internet and those local papers have moved online, however, it is not working.
As for the relationship the press have with the politicians, the press need access or else they cannot write anything. So they have to do as they are told to get that access.
Most of what passes for news in UK papers is stuff cribbed from the news wires. This means that it is a very easy system to game - get your story on the news wire and it will make it to print. Meanwhile, you try and get some investigative journalism of your own creation into the papers - impossible!