“Entertain is exactly what a journalist must NOT prioritize.”
Oh, I disagree. A REPORTER seeks to inform facts, not editorialize or entertain. A JOURNALIST may employ facts, but his or her main objective is to influence; and one of the best ways to influence is to make the message entertaining (i.e., keep the audience engaged).
“And y’all are falling for it. What was it that P.T. Barnum said?”
What’s this “y’all” crap, kemosabe? I said Carlson is not a reporter, but is a journalist. Ergo, he has to entertain or his message (and journalists ALL have a message to impart) will likely be ignored.
I suppose it's because I'm old, and was educated by reading rather than by watching screens. A journalist was someone like Samuel Pepys who kept a diary to be published after the fact, providing a retrospective on events they lived through. William Shirer, despite being a reporter, was a journalist; you can see it in his books, especially Berlin Diary. Ed Murrow I'm not so sure.
But now the word "journalist" has been turned upside down, like the word "liberal". "Journalists" now publish before they've even finished thinking. I really like the new word "influencers", because that's what they are. They call themselves journalists so as to bask in the reflected legitimacy of their betters.
nb: I still don't watch screens. Haven't had a TV since 1977. Don't have the bandwidth (or the patience) to run Utoob videos. Nearest I get to social media is FR. I'm the poor slob who's read lots of history, and is now condemned to watch helplessly while the ignorati repeat it.