http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/20915The Sublime to the Ridiculous: The Evolution of Main Stream Media
by Trish Purcell | March 23, 2009 - 9:16pm
Remember Edward R. Murrow, a courageous journalist who produced a series of TV news reports that helped lead to the censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy? Remember Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward and their unflagging pursuit of the truth in the Watergate scandal? These men showed us what real journalism is about.
But after the Watergate scandal,
MSM began to morph into what we have today – a business dedicated to ratings (aka profits) and in some cases political propaganda. Instead of real journalists we have pretty faces and nice suits who apply the principle of the public’s right to know to salacious scandals instead of government wrong doing. For years now they have spent their air time rattling off out-of-context sound-bites, inane nit picking, and “framing” stories. This makes media complicit in what has happened in our country – the Iraq war, the economic meltdown, the growth of influence peddling in local, state and federal government. And they will bear some of the responsibility for the success or failure of the current administration’s efforts to turn our economy around as they, despite the stakes, continue to add to the struggle by throwing out obstacles large and small.
* Chipping away at the people’s admiration and confidence in President Obama: Steve Kroft on 60-Minutes (March 22) questioning the President’s ability to smile and even chuckle in the midst of the mind boggling problems with which he is faced. The only person who looked foolish in that exchange was Kroft. I had been thinking what a physic face (i.e. ugly face with sour expression) Kroft was throughout the interview and almost fell off my chair when he called Obama on not being a sour face. People who are able to find some humor in even the most horrific of events are much more likely to be stable and mentally healthy than those who are intense and morose during difficult times. So keep smiling, Mr. President. And I suggest CBS tell Kroft to quit taking himself so seriously and lighten up.
* Assailing Obama’s agenda by attempting to manipulate the attitude of the people toward what he wants to do: The question “Do you think Obama is doing too much?’ was an issue created by media, and perpetuated by media. The people were not asking this question and weren’t worried about it. Many of us saw it for what it was, an opening salvo in an attempt to make people think we should wait on healthcare reform, something the GOP would like very much. Fortunately, this particular manipulative effort never gained traction.
* Undermining the administration’s economic recovery plan; The repeated use of a magnifying glass from day one when looking at the Obama Administration’s progress. The American people are willing to give the President time to try, change, and try again, different ways to correct the downward spiral of the economy. Instead of supporting and encouraging the public’s attitude, the GOP and media, demand instant perfection. They nag, harp and hassle at every step the efforts being made. How the GOP, who was in power during the time this financial house of cards was built and started to crumble, has any credibility left is a mystery. Still media invites them to come on the air and spout their revisionist history, their never wavering but clearly failed tax cut policy, and their never ending attempts to undermine the new administration. And media doesn’t call them on the hypocrisy, they just let it stand. This pretty much proves the lie of the continued GOP claim of a “liberal press.”
Robert Parry said it well:
An insidious power of a propagandistic newspaper – especially one with great influence – is how it can “frame” an issue so the assumptions behind a story guide the readers to a preordained conclusion under the guise of presenting a fair journalistic account.
The same is true of TV and radio which have substituted “framing” for reporting. And framing is nothing more than a euphemism for creating an alternate reality. The role of journalism is important because “…public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy.” This is a quote from the code of ethics for professional journalists that goes on to say, “Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility.” I look at today’s journalists and with a few notable exceptions wonder, where is the evidence of personal integrity in what they give us as news?
This must change, democracy depends on it.
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