@4meAndyou I've got problems with static and my stylist recommended coconut oil. Haven't tried it yet though.

@dancingtongue I suppose with the best will in the world so much is happening everywhere that not all matters can be reported properly and for long, so many of them quickly slip out of public view.

Do any of the news services in the USA have longer, analytical programmes that examine and explain the backgrounds to important stories, or provide long investigations?

We do often hear "We cannot comment on individual cases", which is fair when that would affect an individual's privacy although it also happens when the whole reason for that report is the individual concerned going public in desperation, wanting answers and proper treatment.

A lot of evasion comes from compartmenting: "Not our responsibility", says xxxxx, "you need talk to yyyy"; who would probably say it was xxxx's all along, or blame yet another department, or just deny all knowledge. This is particularly hard in child-cruelty cases, because these reveal so many agencies are involved none seem able to co-operate, nor the staff really know what they are supposed to do or whom to contact.

@ArishMell
Very few any more, and easily identified because they are targeted by Trump and his MAGA supporters as the despised "mainstream media": the N.Y.Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Associated Press. They also are identifiable as having their own syndicates (or being one in the case of AP), so an additional revenue stream to support the staff required.

That is on the national level. Locally, major daily newspapers will still do locally-focused features but they tend to be softer, more human interest focused rather than truly investigative journalism. They no longer can afford the experienced, dedicated staff to do so. I still subscribe to the two dailies in my region: the San Francisco Chronicle and the Bay Area News Group, which is a mashup of what used to be 3 major and 4 minor dailies (far more if you go back a few decades), which puts out two major dailies, but essentially is largely the same only packaged with a slightly different geographical focus. Both have shrunk to about half the size one would have been a decade ago, because the advertising and subscription revenue streams are no longer there to support the editorial and production costs. And what remains is primarily three types of content: very long local features (with lots of photos to make them look even longer and more in-depth) but mostly lacking in-depth significance; a recitation of local police blotters (mostly investigations in progress with few details, the volume projecting the appearance of rampant crime that crime statistics do not support), and then syndicated/AP reports on national stories. Little in the way of real local news coverage.

Let me give you a couple of examples of the changes just during my career, in dealing with the news media covering the non-profit, prepaid health care system I worked for. In the early 70's, our primary labor union went on strike. The reporters we were dealing with were designated medical/health/science reporters on the service issues and dedicated labor union reports on the negotiations side. And every major daily had at least one, sometimes multiple reporters assigned solely to cover those areas so they were knowledgeable. A major message we were trying to get out was that we were still open for urgent care, using our physicians and other professional staff not covered by the union. I got a call from the medical/science reporter of a now defunct daily asking how many patients we actually had seen that day at our San Francisco medical center. Having anticipated the question, I had the count readily available, and gave it to him. There was a long pause. Then he says, "well, I have been sitting in the waiting room the past hours and have seen x number patients called in; multiply that by x hours -- yep, that is about what I calculated". A knowledgeable reporter, only one story to dig into, with the time to sit for an hour in a waiting room to make sure I wasn't blowing smoke.

A decade later, similar situation. The union decided to have a massive picketing of our administrative headquarters in Oakland, blocking the street and egress from our parking garage at the end of the workday. The police responded, said they would clear the street for half an hour to let people leave but that was the only window of opportunity they could guarantee. They proceeded to tell the picketers to disperse, most moved to the sidewalks or left, a couple of leaders symbolically arrested without any struggle. Normal theater for the cameras. The next day the only remaining San Francisco daily had a huge story about how we and the police had brought in a SWAT team to forcibly remove peaceful picketers exercising their rights by a reporter we had never dealt with and who had made no effort to contact us or the police; took the union's version as gospel. The Oakland Tribune, now defunct, ran an accurate version of what happened, again by a reporter we didn't normally deal with and who hadn't contacted us. I asked him how he got it right when the Chronicle got so hoodwinked. He said, "heck, I could watch from my office here in the Tribune Tower, recognized that those cops in leather jackets were motorcycle traffic officers not SWAT team members, and confirmed with the police that they simply cleared the street for traffic as they had no permit."

It takes resources to do an adequate job of reporting. Dedicated resources who have contacts, know their field of expertise, can ask knowledgeable questions, not be snowed by those they are interviewing. Broadcast media (since the FCC requirements were emasculated, turning news into entertainment) and the Internet do not put those resources into reporting. They relied on the print media to provide the content while sucking out the revenue streams, both in terms of advertising and readers/viewers, without paying a dime for it. Legislative proposals to make them pay for the content have been floundering for sometime, going no where.

@dancingtongue A long, slow decline.... Eeventually to no-one's benefit except the companies themselves.

My local newspaper does still report a fair amount of local news, entertainments, sports events and the like but after the group that owned it anfmany other local and regional paper was swallowed by a bigger firm still, the quality dropped markedly; with many pages devoted to massive, syndicated advertising, puzzles and so forth.

It publishes a weekend supplement that holds the forthcoming week's TV programmes but gives little information on them, and ignores radio totally.

I have no TV but as far as I can discern from visiting relatives who do, the News and current affairs are covered fairly well by both the BBC and commercial channels, and they have to be as impartial as they can.

Most of the real in-depth reporting and investigative journalism is on BBC Radio Four but I think there are still some similar programmes on TV.

@OlderSometimesWiser Worse when you see them at flea markets and fairs. They charge even more, because they get charged a crazy amount to rent the space for the weekend

@KungFuVixen And half the time they don’t even smell like the original product, who the heck knows what you’re even getting.

Right. New Post.

Things That Piss You Off At Flea Markets

@KungFuVixen I remember arguing in favor of self-service gas stations in Oregon, saying it would save money.

I was wrong.

@KungFuVixen I'd love that for my mom. I'm the one who always does it for her but she sometimes has to go out on her own & if she needs gas, she has to find someone to help her. 😔

@CrazyMusicLover isn’t Dreft dish soap?

@DeletedAccount25 Possibly but I only knew this laundry detergent back in the day from this brand and it was simply amazing.

@rinkydinkydoink We have like 4 of them right in my area, they're everywhere here.

@Tumbleweed

I just googled them - very impressive chain!
I'm from Canada - we may finally get something like this in decade or so from now (unless we become a state soon... LOL)

@rinkydinkydoink It's a pretty decent store.
And Canada will always be CANADA. 🙂

@jshm2 we knew where we were with those guys.

@DunningKruger that's what we call a Curly Wurly in the UK. We used to have Marathon but now it's called Snickers.

@Pretzel good list

@NerdyPotato

This?

@rinkydinkydoink yes, but then pizza instead of original.