“The Washington Post debuted its first Super Bowl commercial — a message underscoring the importance of newsgathering and the dangers journalists can face — during Sunday’s game between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams,” as the newspaper reported. “The 60-second spot, narrated by actor Tom Hanks, aired in the fourth quarter of the game, shortly before the two-minute warning.
“The commercial, produced in partnership with Mark Woollen and Associates, shows scenes from major news events from World War II through the present day. Hanks’s narration describes the role of journalists as eyewitnesses and gatherers of fact as well as the profession’s larger importance to society. The commercial ends with The Post’s logo and its slogan, ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness.’
“’The Super Bowl is a remarkable moment to recognize the courage and commitment of journalists around the world that is so essential to our democracy,’ said Fred Ryan, publisher and CEO of The Washington Post. ‘We decided to seize the opportunity to make this a milestone moment in our ongoing campaign.’”
The article is here. The ad is here:
Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report 
My problem with journalists is that they show us almost always the ugliness, the worst things that have happened, the most terrible people. It’s like looking into a fun house mirror that distorts your face and body. You can recognize you face but know you don’t look like that. They show us the distortion and we believe it’s the truth rather than celebrating the wonderful people and happy occasions that are the norm. Anyone who murders can make the front page. People who help others and even save lives, do not make the paper.
There are many pleasant stories out there and a wide world of diversions to keep from having to see the harder facts of life. That’s fine for some. It’s important to maintain a sunny disposition. However, to honor the lives of those people, working under extreme conditions and threat to their lives in order to bring us the truth, some of us choose not to flinch. That’s why we are the depressed ones.
The ugliness is mostly due to a for profit media system that needs readers/viewers in order to survive. Most people consider local TV news as their primary source of information. Unfortunately, decades ago the news industry, and local broadcasters in particular, discovered that ‘if it bleed it leads’ brings in an audience and the more sensational the better for ratings. I guess people are somehow comforted by other people’s misery being worse than their own. Mass amounts of research have been done with regard to this phenomenon and its effects on audience attitudes and beliefs. The more television a person watches the more likely they are to have an increased fear of being victimized, an exaggerated sense of how many crimes occur compared to actual crime statistics, and a greater sense of helplessness in dealing with issues like crime and violence. This is especially true for older retired Americans and shut-ins who tend to watch more TV.
The internet has given rise to several not-for-profit news agencies that mostly deal in investigative journalism rather than daily news, something that is greatly needed and almost non-existent in the major media infotainment complex.