Respecting the press …

I almost burst out laughing when I hear the media complaining that Trump is damaging their collective reputation, and endangering our democracy in the process.

That’s akin to a hooker picked up for prostitution complaining that police are damaging her reputation, and endangering our capitalist system in the process.  

Then there's John McCain – the “maverick” the media love – saying that suppressing the press is how dictators get started. Nice soundbite John, that got you to the top of NBC.com’s web page.  A really over the top statement since nobody is proposing “suppressing” the press; the most Trump’s done is question some in the media’s honesty and fairness. 

Which a lot of the public at large do as well. For good reason.   

Now McCain is a bona fide war hero. Sadly, at times he’s also a publicity whore trying to stay in the limelight. Sorry but that’s true.  This is just another example of him trying to be the “voice” of a Republican Party that doesn’t really exist anymore. And a party that – prior to Trump – managed to lose two Presidential races in a row in part by allowing the media to get away with character assassination and incredibly biased reporting essentially unchallenged. 

Trump is calling out the media for what he sees as more of the same. He’s not completely clean himself when it comes to facts and slanting news to make a point, of course, but his attacks on the credibility of how the media covers him and his administration have caused an uproar. 

The media, predictably, are going absolutely nuts.

They see themselves as the enlightened guardians of what they alone determine are truth and justice, and what the masses should know. And what the masses should believe. They truly think they are above reproach by mere mortals. The media are accustomed to being the only ones allowed to question the integrity of others and the sole arbiters of what is or isn’t fair. How dare anyone, especially Trump, question their integrity and fairness?  It’s nothing short of heresy.      

Their party, the Democrats – and make no mistake, that is the party supported by the overwhelming majority of members of the media – are going even further,  calling Trump’s assault on the integrity of the media an assault on democracy.  Hyperbole, much? 

Remember, these are the same Democrats and media that have praised the often violent protests and riots to overturn the results of a completely legal and democratic election. It kind of makes you wonder exactly what kind of “democracy” they’re in favor of. 

And to John McCain’s point, isn’t overturning the results of a legal and democratic election through violence how dictators get started?

Just a thought. 

A free and independent media are indeed an important safeguard for democracy. There needs to be an independent force to fairly and honestly report what government and its officials are doing and hold both accountable for their actions. It should always be, by its nature, an adversarial relationship between a free and independent media and government. Otherwise, if the media only report what government officials want, it’s propaganda and a disservice to the electorate.

So I am all in favor of a free and independent media. I just wish we had that.

Unfortunately we don’t. If the past eight years – and the recent election campaigns – have demonstrated anything, it’s that many in the media have chosen sides.

Historically, that’s not all that uncommon; the “titans” of modern journalism – Hearst, Pulitzer, Ochs, Sulzberger, Graham, among others – often slanted the news they reported to favor their own views.  The hallowed “objectivity” of the media has always been questionable, to be kind, but lately it’s become even more of a farce.    

Part of that is because the nature of gathering and reporting the news has changed: the news cycle is dramatically shortened; the perceived attention span of the audience is smaller; and more and more “journalists” are seeking notoriety by any means necessary.  Now, practically anyone with access to the Internet can “publish” and claim to be a “journalist.”

It’s a mistake to consider all these a unified “media.” All compete with each other for attention, for audiences, and for ad dollars. That’s the problem.   

It’s important to recognize this very real divide in the media. On one side there are the more traditional media outlets – newspapers, TV and cable networks, and now their online extensions; on the other side literally thousands of bloggers and click-bait sites that view news as an entertainment medium competing for eyeballs and ad revenues.   

It’s now like the Wild West out there. Nobody in the media governs how other members of the media should act. There are no recognized ethical guidelines in force. Actually, for many years the media have celebrated with awards those of their own who broke laws, obtained information illegally, and destroyed the reputations of others. For all the right reasons, they would say.   

What we see now is the logical outcome. There are no rules.   

Rather than democratizing the news, as those in the “new media” of bloggers and click-bait sites like to say, all this has led to chaos. Rumors have replaced reality, fake news masquerades as fact, and responsible fact checking – such as having at least three nameable sources to verify the facts of a story – is a thing of the past, in the rush to be first to break news.   

Consequently, by volume, most “news” today is the journalistic equivalent of junk food. 

The media aren’t solely responsible for this. Politicians and activists have learned they can get away with playing fast and loose with the facts, or even a bald-faced lie, and somebody in the media will give whatever it is coverage it doesn’t deserve.  Even just to cause a stir.   

By the time it’s completely debunked, if ever, it may have already gained hundreds of thousands of hits online, and reported as absolute fact to millions. The damage is done.

The media get used this way all the time. Somewhere out there are principled reporters and online or print publications that work hard to report honestly and fairly.  I’m certain they are appalled at how little respect they now get, and how their efforts are diluted by the rabble of would-be news outlets only interested in boosting their audience to gain more ads. 

However, they are being washed away in a sea of hype and misinformation. Reporting honestly and fairly isn’t rewarded anymore, either by publishers or audiences, and without audiences there’s no ad revenue to support them.  In the end, it’s a money thing. 

Trump is right when he says the media are dishonest and ignore the facts at times. But he ignores or misrepresents the facts too often as well; something many in the media are all too happy to point out as often as possible.

However, at times it seems some in the media are indeed grasping at straws to make more out of something Trump says off the cuff than they should, or rushing to publish something for which they are woefully unprepared to back up except with “unnamed sources.” Those efforts make the media look even more petty and vindictive and less worthy of respect.

Trump’s playing their own game now, setting them up, and making them take the bait. The more they keep spinning out of control, and overreacting, the more they make his case. 

It’s time for our media to take a cold, hard look at how they’ve devolved from being fairly reliable sources of actual information to the factual equivalent of the Weekly World News. 

I don’t know if the genie can be put back in the bottle.

As long as the media keep acting like they have a monopoly on truth, and refuse to recognize that many in their profession are more propagandists than reporters, nothing will change.

Respect is earned through your deeds, not granted.