Beat the Press: Mike Bloomberg, Media Critic

New York’s mayor offers up a pretty darn accurate assesment of the woes facing modern reporters — and how they’re impacting our government and culture

Mike Bloomberg for President? Who knows, but we’d vote for him for chief media critic.

Appearing on Sunday’s "Meet the Press," New York’s mayor offered up one of the most concise, insightful analysis of the dilemmas facing journalists in the era of the Internet and declining profits.

Mayor Mike — who works part-time as a media mogul when he’s not running New York City — was talking about how the media’s troubles impact the way Washington works. But he could have just as easily been describing the daily struggles facing reporters who cover the entertainment business and pop culture — and, most likely, just about anything else, from City Hall to the NFL.

Bloomberg’s take, in full:

You also have this, this instant news cycle, where everybody’s got to have an opinion on everything; don’t have time to get the facts, don’t have time to analyze. And then you have the blogs and the economics of the news business, which if it bleeds, it leads; and if it doesn’t bleed, get a knife, because it’s the only ways you’re going to keep you job or keep your newspaper going. And so we’ve gone to a sensationalist, instant analysis, unwilling to be subtle and make compromises kind of government, which is very, very dangerous.

We’d offer up some more analysis of Bloomberg’s comments, but we’ve got to finish our story about why the "American Idol" franchise is dead now that Simon Cowell has decided to abandon the show.

 

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