A Closer Look Here, There and Everywhere
by Trish PurcellMembers of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional journalists
In all the uproar over the AIG bailout there were calls for a process to address insolvent institutions instead of just throwing money at them.
So Tim Geithner proposed that Congress authorize the government to wind down failing non-bank financial firms.
Also, the Republicans released a “plan” that called for "a process to address insolvent institutions that stops throwing good money after bad into failing institutions and places insolvent ones into temporary receivership."
The media “enlightened” the public on this subject by reporting the Republican’s charge that Geithner and the White House were engaged in a power grab. They reported that John Boehner called it “an unprecedented grab of power” and Sean Hannity referred to it as “the single biggest power grab and move toward socialism in the history of the country." Over and over, media repeated these charges.
What media’s “enlightenment” did not included was reporting on the similarity between Geithner’s proposal and what the Republican plan proposes; a plan made by the very same Republican’s making the power grab charge. What was also unmentioned was that the executive branch cannot be “grabbing power” when it is in fact, asking the legislative branch to give it the authority.
Oops! Not much fair and comprehensive reporting there.
In November 2008, the Bush administration negotiated a stock purchase agreement through which the Bush Treasury Department infused $40 billion into AIG without requiring that bonus contracts be nullified.
When a USA Today/Gallup poll asked who was to blame for the AIG bonuses the Bush administration was not among the possible responses.
A Wall Street Journal article discussed the involvement of Geithner’s team in decisions about AIG bonuses but failed to mention the November 2008 Bush administration negotiations.
The Washington Times went so far as to quote a Republican strategist who said “This is not something [Democrats] can point to George Bush… They own the issue of giving bonuses to AIG executives.” The Times mentioned $53 million in AIG bonuses but failed to mention they were paid out under the Bush administration. Also unmentioned was the statement by Bush-appointed special inspector general for TARP that Bush’s Treasury Department knew about the AIG bonus contracts and placed no restrictions on them.
A little selective misreading of the situation by media, would you say?
Examples like this can be found throughout the “enlightenment” media offers the people. Do journalists no longer feel any ethical duty to seek truth and provide fair and comprehensive accounts of events and issues or are they just not competent to do so? Whichever it is, justice and democracy are ill served by what passes for Professional Journalism in today’s media.
Trish, I honestly feel that many, if not most in the media, are now from a generation brought up in front of the TV and programmed to view much of the news as entertainment. The media waters have become increasingly murky as the line between real journalism and faux reporting a la talking heads becomes more dramatic.
On the one hand this is bad, because people are being misinformed by the inundation of opinions over fact. On the other hand, it does become possible for those who research the news a little and know what's actually going on, to be able to actually find out what is on the minds of all the mediocrity in leadership, because so many different opinions are being exposed, if only for their entertainment value. Kind of a Catch 22.
Opinions are now substituting for truth in the media. It's okay to have opinions, we all have one (cough), but it's also necessary to have a way of separating truth and opinion. The media itself is struggling with this.
The real solution would be to get corporate big wigs to once again give the news divisions their own sovereignty, and at the same time, end the pandering of politicians by the media. At this point I'm not sure how this can be accomplished. Perhaps it will take getting dollar signs out of everyone's eyes, and getting their real brains functioning again. Is it too late to wake up? Do we really want disaster after disaster and calamity after calamity to be the only means of really getting everyone's attention? Change needs to start being generated by the "flow" of life, not the misfortunes that inevitably arise when mistakes are continuously made.
Me thinks you are too kind when you say media itself is struggling with this (separating truth and opinion). Would that they were struggling with it instead of just perpetuating opinion and not bothering to worry about truth.
Just look at the establishment anchors – Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson, and Katie Couric. Not a real journalist in the bunch. Brian Williams – the picture of an earnest “nice guy” who follows corporate direction and sprinkles his broadcasts with feel good and tear jerker pieces. Charlie Gibson, another type of “nice guy” who tries to look like he is asking the hard questions by periodically joining in the game of scripted responses and acting like it’s news, and Katie Couric who should have stuck with the Today show.
I won’t even get started on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox. With a few exceptions they are ego driven talking heads who love the sound of their own voices, and are either lacking the intellectual capacity to seek the truth and report it or simply don’t care enough to make the effort.
Almost all of the real investigative reporting is done now by journalists who have wound up on the Internet because they actually wanted to report the news instead of towing the corporate/party line. We need a free and independent press and there is some of that around but you have to look for it. Fortunately, the Internet makes that easier than it was ten years ago.
A few of my frequent stops are:
Bill Moyer's Journal
Consortium News
Council of Europe
Democracy Now
Politcal Fact Check
Okay, point taken!
(smile)