BBC director cries over 'mainstream' label, but news outlets should ask why they're not trusted

A speech given by the head of the BBC pouting over the "abusive" term "mainstream media" misses the point entirely, media analyst Lionel told RT. Instead, he suggested, news outlets should ask why people no longer trust them.

"The problem today, the metric for great journalism is not truth and verity and veracity and accuracy, it's 'How many likes did you get? How many retweets? Are you viral?'" Lionel pointed out, explaining that the don't-call-it-mainstream news media had brought this on themselves by jettisoning their standards.

Rather than complain about "people of all political persuasions" pointing out the system's flaws, he said, BBC Director General Tony Hall and others like him would do well to look in the mirror to understand how "traditional journalism" came to be seen as "part of the problem rather than the solution."

"Media today, specifically news media, is now a 24/7 runaway train, manned by people who are unqualified, by people who've never done this before, and newsrooms who've had their budgets slashed and their rolls shuttered. And the idea years ago of the news editor… is gone now," said Lionel.

"Think of a monster you have to keep feeding. Anything – any story, any rehash, it doesn't matter. There's nothing too dumb, too silly, too unjustified because as soon as you're done, you've got a news story."

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