"Have reporters lost their mojo?

[G_j]

http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/columns/editors-notebook/item/5522-the-president-is-right-and-here-s-to-you-lester-holt


THE PRESIDENT IS RIGHT - AND HERE'S TO YOU LESTER HOLT

BRIAN KAREM

The caller on the other end of the phone was adamant. “Have reporters lost their mojo?” She asked.
Before I could respond she explained all the reasons why reporters are taken advantage of by the current presidential administration, how and why reporters need to react and how she was “tired of watching you all take it all the time.”
She was also upset with reporters who “constantly tell me what to think,” and said the media are their own worst enemy.

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Take for instance the current thinking of some of the members of the media who, while they do not like the pronouncements of the president, believe we should keep our heads low and persevere against the slings and arrows with a minimum of interruptions. Fearful of becoming the story, they forget they become part of the story every time they stand up on television and tell us what they think. Media critics are fond of pointing them out as a problematic source of criticism of our profession.
Lester Holt, the venerable NBC anchor is an example of a steady influence and calm hand who apparently nearly became physically ill when he saw my interaction with Sarah Sanders recently in the White House press briefing room. “Surely we can take these hits,” he said. Well we can’t and stop calling me Shirley. To be honest I’ve had a lifetime goal of disgusting everyone I know and I’ve apparently taken it to a new level by nearly making someone physically ill that I don’t even know.

Holt is a respected journalist and has earned it with a healthy career of solid reporting. But Holt and others are slow to understand the changing game we’re playing. The vitriol aimed at the press will soon escalate beyond the violence of being throttled by a congressman-elect in Montana. Somewhere in the U.S. right now is a young reporter going about his or her business who may have to pay a far higher price than merely being beaten – just because they’re doing their job. In Russia and other countries it isn’t unusual to find reporters killed. The day that happens in this country we’ve lost the high ground forever and we’ll be remembered as a nice experiment in self-governing that died in the dust of the vitriol and anger brought on by this last presidential election.

The reporter’s job is “obtaining the basic information quickly and accurately . . ."

-Walter Cronkite


If we have lost our mojo, then there is but one way to get it back: stand up and be accountable. We do not have to fight every fight that comes our way, but we have to selectively stand up for our rights while continuing to investigate and question a very different presidential administration than any we’ve ever encountered.

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[G_j]

1. stand your ground

Yes, people don't want to be told what to think, but also don't like politicians arrogantly stonewalling and obfuscating.
People who pay attention to these things want to know the simple truth/facts. That's why, of course, journalists need to stand their ground to do their job.