Society, democracy needs better journalism
Published April 21, 2017
by Gene Policinski, COO Newseum Institute, published in Burlington Times-News, April 20, 2017.
Veteran CBS News journalist Bob Schieffer closed out an extraordinary round of discussions recently at the Newseum with a call for even better journalism – and a reminder of its place and importance to our democracy.
The morning program, “The President and the Press: The First Amendment in the First 100 Days,” included White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, and journalists from news outlets such as Breitbart News, CNN, Fox News, The Washington Post and The New York Times.
The goal of the symposium, Newseum CEO Jeff Herbst said in his opening remarks, was to look for areas of common agreement on how best to report on the Trump presidency. Schieffer took up that challenge as he ended the program.
Noting that the 2016 presidential campaign was the 14th that he covered as a journalist, Schieffer observed that — unlike other campaigns where the candidates’ slogans were memorable catchphrases — this campaign’s hallmark slogan will be “Have you ever … ?”
Schieffer wryly commented that every campaign he has seen has an “all the fault of the media” phase. He recommended not overreacting to even this year’s “really nasty” attacks on the press, saying “This is all part of the job. It is something we all know about and expect … that part is not to be taken seriously.”
Schieffer said much of the criticism leveled at journalists during the campaign was contradictory. Some accused the press of “electing Trump because we gave him too much exposure.” Other critics said the press “missed the story because we did not take him seriously.” And yet others said the news media “did not really make much difference because Trump used social media to go around us.” Not all of those could be true, he said.
Serious lessons that can be taken from the election: “Too much information” opened the door for a flood of fake news. New media outlets and social media need to “take some responsibility for what the information is they are distributing.”
“Too many so-called surrogates and strategists made their way onto television and were given far more credibility than they deserved” in a misguided effort to show balance, Schieffer said. “It didn’t take long to listen to them to understand they had no understanding, and really no contact with either campaign.”
Schieffer also said the press paid too much attention to polling and the drama around what he called meaningless one-point leads by candidates. Journalists should “get back to knocking on doors and asking people how they feel,” he said.
In his eloquent defense of a free press, Schieffer said “politicians are there to run the campaigns. Government officials are there to run the government. They are there to deliver a message. Our job is simply to check out the message, determine if it’s true, and if so, what will be its impact on the governed.”
Those who would undermine the function of a free press undermine the foundations of this country, Schieffer said. “We are not the opposition party, as some would have you believe … nor is it our place to sit down and shut up and let the world pass by, as some would have us do.”
Inevitably, Schieffer’s even-handed call on Wednesday for better reporting roused spiteful comments from some of those tuning into the event through social media. One Twitter user wrote that “TRUTH is the enemy of … hacks like Bob Schieffer. We are making corporate propagandists like him extinct. He is bitter and fearful.”
Far from going extinct, Schieffer’s defense of good journalism rings true — now and for future generations of journalists. It’s more likely that such critics — “bitter and fearful” by their very verbal venom — are the ones who will eventually fade from sight.
Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute. He can be reached at gpolicinski@newseum.org. Follow him on Twitter:@genefac.
http://www.thetimesnews.com/opinion/20170420/column-society-democracy-needs-better-journalism
April 21, 2017 at 9:57 am
Richard L Bunce says:
Perpetuating the myth that the press has ever been impartial. At least now they seem to be dropping their facade of impartiality and showing their true colors that is progress. Now the mainstream press should end their nonsense about we are real news and those people over there are fake news.
The mainstream media should admit that their "candidate endorsements" are no different than any other campaign ad during election season and end their call for campaign disclosures for others but of course not themselves for doing the exact same thing, advocating for a candidate.
The press should also end their nonsense about Citizen's United. People do not lose their First Amendment [speech|press] protections when [speaking|performing press functions] in a for profit corporate environment using corporate resources... as Mr. Schieffer has done his whole career.
April 21, 2017 at 5:04 pm
Norm Kelly says:
Not just better journalism. Better journalists. Journalists who actually know & understand what their job is.
So far, most of the media has turned out to be 'the opposition party'. That is opposed to anything not of the Demoncrat party.
The open, biased, obvious, blatant support, endorsement, lack of questioning of the demoncrat agenda needs to stop. Nobody in the nation cares about the political affiliation of whoever is reading the teleprompter. We care that we can trust what they are saying. If you tune into any version of NBC, or CNN, you are getting biased, inaccurate, misleading or outright fake information. If you read the average printed news rag, you are getting biased, inaccurate, misleading, sometimes fake information. That's not to say that Fox News doesn't have a bias. But Fox is much more open to opposing opinions than just about any other source. And the other difference is that Fox is open when it does come to their bias.
If the majority of those claiming to be journalists are registered and voting Demoncrat, don't let it show in your job. Your job is to report news, not misinform or mislead. Your job is not to endorse any particular candidate. And when was the last time you saw a journalist endorse a non-Demon candidate? Check out the local rag in Raleigh, the Noise&Disturber, for unbiased, unfiltered, down-the-middle journalism. You won't find any there! Their editorial board has skipped endorsing ANY candidate when they couldn't make up a reason to endorse the demoncrat! Rather than endorse a Republican or Independent, they chose not to endorse anyone cuz the demon didn't meet their liberal bias expectations. And when it came to Roy, even though he wouldn't do his job at the time, when he announced he was running, they resoundingly endorsed him. He didn't say a thing worthy of mention, didn't say anything beyond repeal of HB2 (his entire candidacy!), yet the N&D couldn't wait to make him their star! How's that for unbiased? And their constant rag on Pat for issues that happened while demons ruled Raleigh was & still is unforgivable. Truth, information, unbiased is totally missing in the N&D rag! Even birds reject it in the bottom of their cages!
I could go on and on and on about the need for true journalists. But it seems most journalists are deaf! They don't hear that they are not trusted, that their words are meaningless, that their opinions don't matter. They are deaf to any criticism, regardless of how true it is. And for journalists to decide, now that a Republican is in the WH, that they will start doing their jobs again is NO SURPRISE AT ALL! Everyone knew they would do their jobs if a demon didn't make it. Just like they do every time a Republican wins over a demon. They suddenly say they will do their job and expect us to think they mean it. Until the next demon is elected to the WH, then they forget how to do their jobs again. We've seen the cycle repeated, yet they are deaf to their critics or, it seems, even to their own promises to do their jobs!
Journalism is dead in America!
