The myth of responsible journalism

Journalism has always been a sleazy business. 

What we now call “the media” – newspapers, TV, radio, cable networks and now online sites and bloggers – like to wear the mantle of “journalists” as if that’s something of pride, honor and dignity, nonetheless. 

Honestly, they know better.   

Journalism is not now, nor ever was, a bastion of objectivity, integrity or truth.  It’s always been and always will be a field rife with prejudice and manipulation of information. To what end? Well, usually to promote something or someone the reporter and owner believe in, and to disparage or destroy something or someone they don’t like.

Trust me, this isn’t secret information.  Every J-school grad knows this. 

Just as they know that freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one.  Or in this day and age, whoever owns or controls the newspaper, TV or radio station, cable network or website. 

Now that the power to publish is within reach of anyone with an Internet connection, including any uninformed nebbish in his mom’s basement with an ax to grind, the concept of “honest” journalism is as realistic as a “virtuous” whore, and about as apt an analogy.

In the never-ending quest for fame, fans and followers, making waves is more important than truth or accuracy.  So just about anything intentionally provocative gets published – right, wrong, vindictive, malicious, whatever.  A slip of the tongue gets blown out of proportion. An innocuous comment is taken out of context. Unverifiable claims are attributed to “unnamed sources.”

Those who create and publish even the most outrageous fabrications and distortions often claim they are exercising their First Amendment right to be a free and unfettered press.    

Reporters and publishers like to imply that the First Amendment gives them special privileges and an exalted position in our society – in effect the Fourth Estate. Most outside the media have been led to believe the First Amendment has something to do with freedom of speech – which it does – and also grants the media extraordinary status – which it doesn’t. 

Here’s the actual text: 

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Note that the first thing addressed in the First Amendment has to do with religion.  Freedom of speech comes next. And freedom of the press is third. 

The First Amendment does cover a lot of ground rather vaguely. That makes it subject to a lot of interpretation, and parsing of words, as to what the founders meant.  I tend to believe that the founders wanted to restrict Congress from creating laws designed specifically to stifle criticism of the government, government policies, and government officials. 

There’s been a lot of case law since then on what the First Amendment covers in terms of the acceptable scope of free speech and freedom of the press.

Almost none of that has given a pass to the media to publish with a reckless disregard for the facts, or with a predetermined mindset to cause harm. That hasn’t stopped many in the media from doing both, and then trying to use the First Amendment as their get-out-of-jail-free card.       

Quite frankly, members of the today’s media rabble – print, broadcast, or online – don’t hesitate to consider themselves above the law, or to welcome and make heroes of those who break the law. Actually, they always have on both counts.

It’s not surprising since many of them entered journalism as a way to get even with someone or some institution for some real or imagined injustice. That’s the dirty little secret many of them share.  Forget the Hollywood stereotype of the tough but fair journalist doggedly seeking the truth, no matter the personal risk; it’s about exacting revenge for many of them.      

That’s not to say that there aren’t decent, honest folks in journalism today trying to bring critical, accurate information to the public. You just aren’t going to hear much about them. Big headlines, exposés, titillating and shocking stories build careers, so simply reporting the actual facts won’t get you very far.

Unless – as a journalist – you become the story. Then your peers pull out all the stops. 

The media is obsessed with itself to an extent that would be unimaginable in any other profession – presuming of course that you consider such an ethically challenged industry a “profession.”  (I say that at the risk of offending other professions, such as prostitution.)

If ISIS chops off someone’s head that’s bad; but if ISIS chops off a journalist’s head – well that’s much, much worse. The same goes for just about anything. There’s nothing more important to those in the media than what happens to one of their peers. 

It’s clear that I have a bias against modern day “journalists,” most of whom I see as pompous, self-indulgent hacks for whom “objectivity” is a ship that sailed far away long ago. I think most are intellectually lazy and only look for “facts” that support what they already believe. To me they are more interested in self-promotion and appeasing their fans and like-minded peers than reporting uncomfortable truths that compromise their ideology or their “mission.”

It’s not just journalists with a liberal bent; their conservative counterparts are just as bad.  If you believe nbcnews.com, Obama is a modern-day Gulliver, held back from fixing the country by Lilliputian Republicans. If you believe FoxNews.com, Obama is a Marxist dictator running roughshod over the Constitution. Both are false narratives. (No, really … they are.)     

The casualty of all this is reality.  And that really pisses me off. 

It’s small wonder our population is so ignorant; people generally have no idea what’s true and what isn’t anymore. That’s not good for a country that needs an educated and informed populace to pull the levers in voting booths. Otherwise, critical elections devolve into mere popularity contests. 

And then we are doomed as a democracy. 

Part of it is our own fault for relying too much on media sources that do nothing more than present their version of the news that confirms what we want to believe. It’s disingenuous to blame the management of NBC, CNN or Fox for giving their audiences what they want – their business is to sell ads, and you need an audience to attract advertisers.

So what’s to be done? Maybe reporters and publishers need to be held to the same standards as advertisers.  As strange as it sounds, it makes sense, especially since most journalists are now like advertisers these days; both are trying to persuade consumers to buy what they’re selling.

And right now – as bizarre as this seems – advertisers are held to higher standards. 

When advertisers make a claim media outlets and the government can require them to show proof of its validity before it’s allowed to be aired.  If an advertiser misleads and/or defrauds a consumer – whether by omission or commission – they face stiff financial penalties or even jail time.  

Wouldn’t it be better if journalists had to meet the same standards? 

Don’t count on it anytime soon. 

The NEW Bill of Rights II

You knew I’d have more.  Just trying to adjust to the realities of our times. 

Freedom to be a Hypocrite

You have the right to chastise others publicly for things you also do.  If challenged, you have the right to claim the moral high ground, fabricate self-serving rationalizations, and justify your actions with “moral equivalencies” where there are none.  Your stated intentions – true or not – matter much more than your actions, and are a perfectly acceptable alternative to following the same rules as everyone else. This allows you to be on both sides of an issue – an important virtue in our democracy – such as publicly supporting calls for raising income taxes when you know privately you won’t have to pay those.  Or criticizing policies that enable inner-city parents to abandon failing public schools in favor of charters when your own kids go to good schools in the suburbs.  It’s your right.    

Freedom to Be Rude

You have the right to be a self-centered, thoughtless and insensitive jerk at all times.  You have the right to think only of yourself whether you’re driving, talking on your cell, boarding a plane, out with your kids, in the grocery store, in a restaurant, wherever – you have the right to act as if there’s nobody else in the world that matters but you.  You have the right to say: “So what?  Everybody does it …” as the excuse for whatever you do. So use the handicap tag you don’t qualify for. Take two spots in a parking lot and leave your cart in one of them when you drive off.  Ignore the 10-items-or-less signs. Intentionally arrive late for your flight so you can jump the check-in line.  Board planes with a backpack, and a duffel, and a rolling cart, and a shoulder bag and a shopping bag as your “two” carry-on items – then shove all these in the overhead bin so there’s no room for anybody else. Pay no attention to flight attendants’ requests to turn off your phone, tablet or notebook. Demand restaurants honor your reservation even when you’re more than 30 minutes late. Change your kid’s diaper at the table.  Hold up everyone in line – or at a light – while you talk on your phone.  It’s okay. Everybody does it.   

Freedom to Be Special

You are unique in the universe.  No one feels pain the way you do, has the same problems as you, suffers from so many circumstances beyond their control, works as hard as you do, or has faced the obstacles you’ve faced. You are truly remarkable and others are jealous of your intelligence, your ability to see things they don’t, and your humility in spite of your obvious greatness. No one ever has been as worthy of adulation and special treatment as you and your offspring – especially your offspring, who are like no other children in the world since the beginning of time. Because of this uniqueness, your offspring deserve special handling by coaches and instructors, access to prescription drugs to address their special conditions, special menus and control over what others can eat in lunch rooms, special latitude when there are family vacations, and endless do-overs for tests, papers and other assignments erroneously graded.  Teach your offspring just how special they are at all times and they’ll grow up just like you. 

Freedom From Responsibility

You are not personally responsible for anything bad that happens, even if it is entirely of your own making. It will always be someone else’s fault, and someone else’s task to fix.  All you need to do is attribute blame to some circumstance, historical event, or another person or persons. You are not responsible for anything you do to yourself, such as dropping out of school, smoking, drinking to excess, drug addiction, overeating, gambling, pregnancy, getting shot in the commission of a crime, and overuse of tanning beds.  You are also not responsible for any consequences of your personal behavior on others, such as vehicular homicide, family poverty, eviction, property seizure by DEA, spreading HIV and STDs, carjacking, murder, rape, and accidental shooting, for example. If you put yourself in danger, put those around you in danger, commit a crime and get incarcerated, have your children taken by Child Services, or become a prostitute to support a drug habit, understand that there’s surely a reasonable explanation that removes the burden of personal responsibility from you.  And there’s always someone, something, or some event – even in the distant past – that’s actually to blame.   It’s never your fault. 

The NEW Bill of Rights

We’ve relied on the old-fashioned Bill of Rights for too long.  Maybe it’s time to have a new set to reflect today’s evolving standards. Here are some new versions:

Freedom of Speech

You have the right to say and publish anything – even knowingly false and with malice aforethought – as long as it’s politically correct. You also have the right to prevent anyone whose opinions differ from yours from being heard. This means you can shout down people with whom you disagree, disrupt their speeches, shut down their online accounts, and do whatever necessary to prevent their voice from being heard. As long as your cause is just – defined by you and your peers – you can incite others to riot, destroy property, loot, and put others’ lives in danger when exercising your rights.    

Freedom of Assembly

You have the right to assemble any place you wish, including at the homes and businesses of those you wish to intimidate. This extends to following family members of those same targeted people anywhere they go and confronting them whenever you like. You can also assemble wherever you like – even on private property with no permission – whenever you disagree with anything as long as you chant “No justice, no peace,” start with “Hey, hey, ho, ho …” or shout anything else in unison that somewhat rhymes. If the police move in to maintain order, you have the right to pelt them with bottles, rocks and whatever else you can find with no fear of prosecution.  NOTE: These rights are not confined to expressing outrage; you have the same rights to express joy at sports championships. 

Freedom from Unreasonable Search and Seizure

Any search and seizure is automatically unreasonable, unless it’s something the state wants to know or take. You have an absolute right to complete privacy, except as noted above. Whatever you’re communicating with, storing data or images on, wearing, driving, living in, or simply visiting cannot be searched, even with a warrant. The exceptions are if you have done something morally reprehensible, like contributing to or supporting any entities critical of the state, or owning a gun, or smoking. Or other bad behaviors to be determined. You also waive any of these rights if you join known terrorist organizations like the NRA or the Tea Party (or its fellow travelers).   

Freedom of/from Religion

You have the right to worship or not worship whatever you wish, but not in a public sort of way that could possibly offend anyone else. You also have the right to be offended by anyone else’s expression of their religion (or lack thereof), and seek redress. Such redress can include the ending of decades or centuries-old traditions, prohibition of public displays or symbols attributed to the offending religion (or lack thereof), renaming of said symbols (Christmas Tree -- Holiday Tree) and holidays (Halloween -- Fall Festival) and elimination of public utterances that might be construed as related to a religion (or lack thereof).  It makes no difference how many people are offended or to what extent, or if there is equal representation of all other religions (or lack thereof), if one person is offended the test is met. 

Freedom from Allergic Reactions

You have the right to demand that everybody else modify their behavior to protect you from potential allergic reactions, real or imagined. You need not provide any proof whatsoever of your real or imagined allergies, simply expressing your concern is sufficient.  This permits you to prevent others from serving, ordering, or eating any foods that contain peanuts, gluten, or any other potential allergens, in any commercial, institutional, or even private setting if within 100 yards of where you are.  It also allows you to halt or slow service at restaurants and other food providers by demanding special treatment, special preparation techniques, and special assurances that they are complying with your requests to prevent exposure to real or imagined allergens.  No one can refuse service because of your requests, nor charge you more.         

I've just started.  I’ll have more …

The blindingly obvious …

Some things are so apparent you wonder why so many people simply can’t connect the dots. Part of the reason, of course, is that there’s an ongoing effort by Democrats and their pals in the media to spin the news to hide what’s really going on.

When all you see and hear is being passed through a filter of liberal orthodoxy, what remains bears little resemblance to reality. It’s the world Democrats and liberals wish it were, instead of the world that actually is. It’s kind of like believing in affirmations – if you repeat what you want often enough it will come true. Unfortunately, that’s very close to the definition of insanity. 

In this liberal fantasy world we have nothing to fear but ourselves.  Mea culpa. 

No outside threat from Muslim extremists or a nuclear Iran compares to the perils of eating too much sugar, fat, carbs, or electing Republicans. Global warming, climate change, the extinction of species are our fault.  In fact, everything is our own fault as a people and a nation, except of course being uneducated, poor or unemployed in America. 

And who is to blame, then, for the uneducated, poverty and unemployment?  Why the Republicans, and the rich, which are one and the same in most cases. 

Liberal dogma dictates that the poor (especially minorities and immigrants) are all honest, hardworking folk who would never think of cheating, stealing or lying about anything. The poor would never, ever “work” the system to get benefits they don’t deserve.  Bad apples among them that do are such a teeny, tiny, infinitesimal fraction of the poor that they don’t really count.  

So liberals fight any attempt to police benefits awarded to the poor as a waste of time and money. Why look when you’re not likely to find anything? It’s the same with questioning who is actually voting.  Why bother when it’s obvious to right-thinking people that there’s no such thing as voter fraud? 

Also, in case you hadn’t noticed, to liberals the poor are also the majority of Americans, because anyone who is not rich must be poor.

Consequently, there is essentially no middle class anymore, except for union workers and public sector employees. Everybody else is either poor or rich.

The rich – which includes bankers, executives, and business owners in general – are all greedy exploiters of the poor, the environment, and helpless workers who are little more than corporate slaves. (Unless the rich are union leaders or liberal Democrats – then they get a pass.)

Minorities and women in this fantasy world are like children, to be instructed as to right and wrong, what to believe and what not to believe, and to be cared for and protected at all costs from a harsh, dog-eat-dog world. Although never spoken aloud, liberal Democrats believe in their hearts that minorities and women are simply not capable of making decisions without their guidance, nor capable of improving their lot in life without a lot of their assistance.  

So liberal Democrats like to propose a lot of laws to protect us from ourselves.  Obviously, we can’t be trusted to do the right thing. We need them to decide for us. They need to tell us what to eat and drink, what to buy, where to live, where to work and for how much, what kind of cars we should have, and how we should heat and cool our homes.  Otherwise, what would we do? 

Honestly, when you think about it, it’s kind of a bleak world liberal Democrats think we live in.  They think we are helpless without them. 

It’s as if they never got past Oliver Twist and the industrial revolution. Their world is full of the ever-present possibility of unspeakable horrors at the hands of the rich and powerful (those who are not liberal Democrats, of course), in an environment on the verge of collapse. Only their overt paternalism keeps the poor, minorities and women from starving in the streets, dying from obesity or lack of proper healthcare, and slows the pace of polar bears drowning in the receding polar ice. That same paternalism keeps the rich – unless liberal Democrats – from turning all of us into poorly paid slaves. 

And keeps us from doing harm to ourselves.  Or at least what they deem harm. 

Could just be me, but I don’t live in their world. I understand where liberal Democrats are coming from, but I don’t think they do. 

I’m sure many of them think what they’re doing is from the goodness of their hearts.  The cold hard truth is it’s really about making them feel good about themselves. It looks compassionate – and I’m sure that’s how they see it – but it’s actually self-centered.  If liberal Democrats – and their allies in the media – were all that into their causes, they’d be on the front lines, not simply writing checks or reporting sympathetic stories.

It’s easy to be liberal with other people’s money. It’s easy to support a law that doesn’t affect you personally.  It’s easy to be for raising the minimum wage if you’ve already made your money.   It’s easy to rail against fossil fuels when you can afford a Tesla. It’s easy to talk about the poor if you don’t associate with anyone who is.  It’s easy to tout alternative energy as long as it doesn’t interfere with your picture-perfect view on Cape Cod or the Hamptons.  And it’s easy to support gun control if you live in a safe neighborhood.

I think that’s what gets to me most. The blindingly obvious hypocrisy of liberal Democrats.      

Say what you want about Jimmy Carter, but he’s personally helped build houses for the poor. Jimmy’s a loon on a lot of stuff, but he’s been out there swinging a hammer. That’s more than I can say about the majority of self-righteous liberal blowhards in the news all the time.   

It’s one thing to talk the talk and to tell others how they should think and live; it’s another to follow the example you’re proposing yourself. 

If you think people aren’t paying enough taxes, get in front of the line – there’s nothing to prevent you from voluntarily paying more taxes than you owe.  If you don’t think people should own guns, fine – don’t own one.  If you think ObamaCare is great – go ahead, enroll and drop the plan you have now.  If you think we’re not spending enough on public education, be my guest and send your check to your local school district.  If you think schools are too segregated, send your own kids to predominantly minority public schools.

If you want to alleviate hunger among the poor, invite some to dine at your house. Homelessness?  Set up a shelter in your own neighborhood.

Worried about the environment and the ozone layer? Opposed to the Keystone Pipeline and fracking?  Learn to commute to work on a bike, or take mass transit, or better still – don’t go anywhere where you have to fly, or drive a long distance to get to.  At the same time, send a note to your utility company that you want to double-down on what they’re charging you now.    

Oh, and let anybody put up a wind turbine farm in your back yard.  Or in front of your beachfront home or rental, where it would actually work best. 

Want to welcome illegal immigrants to America?  Then go to the border and do it in person.  Even better, go live at the border full time. See for yourself what it’s like to gain the rich experience of exposure to diverse cultures and people from varied economic backgrounds and education right on your own doorstep. 

Any takers?  I don’t think so. 

There’s so much liberals could do, instead of just preaching to the rest of us about what we should be doing.  But they don’t. 

Because they are hypocrites.   That’s obvious.