Objectivity is a key element of journalism, which in our contemporary era has been supplanted in large measure by advertising-supported electronic hype machines.
Taking sports as an example, media coverage in the current era has tended to devolve to mere carnival barking.
In consequence, a talented big league baseball player with two or three good seasons under his belt according to the statistical standards of modern analytics, which as an aside, and while objective in the sense of remorseless mathematics, have made the game almost unwatchable because the human element has been savagely suppressed, is certain to be presumptively tagged by media outlets as a “future Hall of Famer,” or variously, in an even more annoying manifestation of short attention spans, as the GOAT (“greatest of all time”).
The click bait duly dangled, cyber flame battles commence. None of them contributes a jot to a greater understanding of baseball or any other relevant issue, although the thrill of vanquishing opponents on the Interwebz suffices as an updated variation of gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome, albeit it a form of mayhem pursued with mobile devices from the comfort of one’s upholstered armchair while pretending to “work” at home.
(As an aside, if the very...Read more