When did the title of "investigative journalist" become a joke?

[ck4829]

We went from Watergate, the Pentagon Papers, and My Lai being exposed to a guy who spliced videos together to make an organization dedicated to helping the poor look like the spawn of Satan. That guy is now called a "investigative journalist".

An investigative journalist used to be about rattling the cages and shaking up the system, now an investigative journalist is about confirming the suspicions that gullible people have.

When did this change happen?

[alsame]

1. I first noticed the change in the

1980s, when most of the media fell in love with Reagan. It's much worse now, of course, with 24/7 cable news and the need to be infotainment.

[aikoaiko]

2. when used to introduce Geraldo Rivera after 1985.

Geraldo used to be good, but after the safe incidents he missed more than he hit.

[Crystal Clarity]

3. Maybe when they stopped adequately investigating?

:shrug:

[Bitwit1234]

4. When the corporate companies run by republicans took over the media

[slackmaster]

5. Great question

I blame teh Interwebz, for making it easy for anyone to broadcast opinions far and wide.

[pinboy3niner]

6. It's the partisan poser, not the term, that's a joke

The real problem is that there are so few real investigative reporters in the MSM today, though "investigative blogging" seems to be thriving.

[Stevenmarc]

7. It stopped when the news division had to become a profit center instead of a loss leader

and the final nail was the Jane Akre case

[ixion]

8. In the 80's. Watch the movie: "Broadcast News"

Which came out in '87. It is a prophetic piece, it turns out, and a great movie, to boot.

[tom_paine]

9. Apparently the writing was on the wall in the biz, because "Network" also was highly prophetic

So prophetic, in fact, that everything in it that was "over-the-top" wacky in 1976 is literally now boring, trite and underwhelming.

That movie was so prophetic, it's lunacies are now boring & mundane. It dated itself by being TOO correct in it's predictions, but failing to see that it's "zany" predictions would be underwhelming compared to the reality which was to follow.

[Greyhound]

10. Two things. The parasites that owned the networks removed the wall between the news & sales.

and subjected the news departments to competing with entertainment (IOW, forced the news to generate profits).

And Raygun, who stopped enforcement of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and pushed Rupert Murdoch's "citizenship" so that he could get in on the monopoly game.

So it started in the 70's and became a full joke in the 80's.

[Dogmudgeon]

11. When it became "sexy"

Once a field becomes "sexy" -- desirable, glamorous, hip -- it goes to hell.

People get into such fields for self-aggrandization, not out of a love of the work, the job, or in the case of investigative journalism, justice. The children of the wealthy are drawn into it. In a similar vein, look at all the "gonzo journalists" around, none of whom are fit to trim the grass over HST's grave site. "Newsman" Matt Drudge poses with a fedora; most Conservative journalists glom onto the miens of H.L. Mencken and G.K. Chesterton, both of whom held conservatism in low regard.

I'd guess that most investigative journalists today are poseurs. But fortunately, there are still many who do good investigative work.

--d!