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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsShould Journalists Be Part of the Resistance?
https://www.motherjones.com/media/2019/11/should-journalists-be-part-of-the-resistance/Should Journalists Be Part of the Resistance?
An open letter (sort of) to the editor of the New York Times.
Monika Bauerlein
November 27, 2019
Over the past month or so, the New York Times executive editor, Dean Baquet, has been giving a handful of interviews about the role of journalism in general, and the New York Times in particular. One of these, with the BBC, briefly had our ears burning. I make it very clear when I hire, I make it very clear when I talk to the staff, Ive said it repeatedly, that we are not supposed to be the leaders of the resistance to Donald Trump, Baquet said. That is an untenable, nonjournalistic, immoral position for the New York Times. If I was the editor of Mother Jones, I would say otherwise.
snip//
The fundamental mistake that conventional Washington journalism has made over the past four years is to imagine all of politics as two-dimensionalDemocrat to Republican, left to right, with far too little attention to the many other fault lines that run through, across, and at a diagonal to that distinction. One of the most important of these other fault lines is the one between those who stand for democracy, with a small d, and those who abet authoritarianism and minority rule.
In that battle, journalists cant just dispassionately chronicle two equally valid sides. A free press needs (and is needed by) lowercase-d democracy. We cant exist without it.
The Times cant and shouldnt be part of a capital-R, partisan Resistance, but it better damn well be part of the lowercase-r resistance against authoritarianism and illiberalism. And if leaders like Baquet are worried about taking sides against the latter, they are failing (not to get grandiose, but dammit, its Defcon One here) their sacred mission.
This is journalisms fight, but its not just ours. The people who scream fake news when we report the truth are the same people who attack anyone who dares to speak out online, women and people of color most of all. They literally raise money to go after individual journalists and their families. They file lawsuits against citizen activists and make local news anchors read robo-scripts. Standing up to that is not about partisanship. Its about speaking truth to power and defending the freedom that allows us to do so.
Thats our case. But now its time for yours.
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Should Journalists Be Part of the Resistance? (Original Post)
babylonsister
Dec 2019
OP
I expect journalists to present the truth and facts, not this both sides bullshit and propaganda.
LonePirate
Dec 2019
#2
Jounalists should report reality, and sometimes there are not two sides to an issue.
TheBlackAdder
Dec 2019
#3
beachbumbob
(9,263 posts)1. America free press is long gone, mass media is corporate owned,
We have 40 years of experience to know that.
LonePirate
(13,431 posts)2. I expect journalists to present the truth and facts, not this both sides bullshit and propaganda.
TheBlackAdder
(28,226 posts)3. Jounalists should report reality, and sometimes there are not two sides to an issue.
.
This is how FOX lies spread around as opposing views, because they make shit up as the contrary position.
In the bullshit approach of "fair reporting" news gives legitimacy to those lies by reporting on them as viable points.
.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,468 posts)4. sometimes, failing to stand for something means helping to destroy it
Apparently, Baquet feels he can keep his paycheck coming whether it's from an oligarchy or democracy.
demosincebirth
(12,543 posts)5. Journalists should seek the truth