2020 may be the Year the News Worm Turns

the worm turns: "used to describe when a person or group of people who have been treated badly for a long time suddenly become forceful and stop accepting a difficult situation. "Pop" was the guide. At 5:00 pm we'd sit before the black & white TV and watch the news. After the local news—less a crime report than today—it was on to the national news on NBC, CBS and ABC.  We'd watch each channel for a few minutes, and then shift to a second. Then the third.

This was during the golden era for the news face-men—no women allowed. Cronkite, Huntley/Brinkley, Jennings, Brokaw, Reasoner, Koppel, Chancellor, et al.  Edward R. Morrow was Dean Emeritus of the News School. Morrow came to fame in the radio era with his reporting from London during the Blitz, heard by the world.  As, later, his televised broadcasts were heard during the Joe McCarthy episode. After watching one station for a few minutes, Pop would say, "Now watch this," and roll the plastic dial on the forty-pound set to another news broadcast, and say "Watch."  He'd repeat the three-step flip from one three-letter acronym channel to the next. And back again. After a few rotations came the lesson. "Now, see how they're all reporting the same news? Sometimes even in the same sequence." Even a ten-year old could see it was Eeny, Meeny, and Miny.  It stayed that way until along came Moe—CNN. Meanwhile, on February 26, 1967, the worm shifted some when America's most trusted, televised-news reader, Walter Cronkite, ended his evening broadcast with a brief editorial statement. Cronkite had recently returned from Vietnam where he'd hosted a documentary on the VC/NVA TET (New Year) offensive that began January 31, 1968.  Back on the CBS news-set in New York City, he closed his program that night by introducing "an analysis that must be speculative, personal, [and] subjective." Among his comments were these:

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"Who won and who lost in the great Tet offensive against the cities?  I'm not sure.  The Vietcong did not win by a knockout, but neither did we.  The referees of history may make it a draw. It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could."

When President Lyndon Johnson learned of Cronkite's statement, he allegedly said, "That's it. If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America."  Unlike many TV reporters today, Cronkite clearly labeled his statement as opinion. His sentiment represented many, perhaps most, of his viewers, but in hindsight, his projection of a "draw" was wrong—dead wrong for more than a few South Vietnamese who trusted the United States would not abandon them. And that was the TV news business until FOX came along.  "FOX" wasn't a three-letter acronym. More diverse in its opinions and on-air talent. Hip. Casual. If the old news wore suits and ties, FOX was sweaters and slacks.  In the meantime, ink-print news changed little.  Some newspapers shrank in size, added color ink to their ads and photos, even went digital.  But more than a few have had trouble monetizing their internet news sites.  As papers were earlier scooped by the radio (e.g., the bombing of Pearl Harbor), now they're scooped by Breaking News, and the more established news websites. 

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Newspapers are dying. Trees are rejoicing. (I entered a grocery store once to find a man selling subscriptions to the local paper from behind a table near the produce department. He asked if I'd like to subscribe. I said, "No sir. My parakeet died and I threw out his cage." Felt bad about saying that, for a short time, but longer about the parakeet.) News stumbled forward until the internet changed everything, and the worm began a slow turn that may accelerate in 2020.  We're just at the beginning. Someday the worm will do summersaults and levitate, as internet access to news is proliferating.  They're the invading mice into the news business and they're continuously reproducing.  Political satire on the web is spreading.  The Babylon Bee, The Onion, TeaParty911Satire, and other spoof sites are here, and others coming.  The best will do well because the human element desperately missing most from today's politics is humor.  Descendants of Will Rogers are alive, and well.  More website aggregators are popping up.  The Drudge Report is fading—explanations of why vary, but its decline is obvious. Others are filling the space. E.g., Whatfinger.com, Newsalert.com and, most recently, ProTrumpNews.com/.

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Those weary of a steady diet of watching Elephants and Donkeys throw mud at each other, and talking heads of Republican and Democrat "strategists" simultaneously yelling, wonder what's up in the rest of the world. Answer: Much is up. There's a bottomless goldmine of international news on YouTube.  Not like silly news of the Royals.  But serious topics like, China's Belt and Road Initiative. Visit YouTube and type in the key words.  Everything you need to know about that project pops up. You can read all day. So, the News Worm is turning, globally. More worm gyrations are ahead in 2020. Even more beyond. Nearly limitless. Like a fish market offering all the edible species of the all the world's ponds, rivers, lakes and seas, with new sources of fish being continuously discovered. We've left behind the era when news comes through the legacy "news networks".  Though still breathing, they're dead, like newspapers.  And, we may, also, have already seen the last, traditional news conference televised from the White House briefing room.  If we're lucky.