Well said. The media needs to come to terms with their mandate. They should not be airing/printing rumor or unfounded rebuttals. They should not report comment without fact checking it first. Otherwise they are complicit in perpetuating propaganda. This both sideism has corrupted the mission of the media: reporting the facts and the truth.
Thank you for this. I don't believe the media has a responsibility to give air time to the views of crackpots and liars. It's tragic that so many news outlts seem to think they owe the "other side" a platform even when that other side has an agenda completely divorced from the truth.
Years ago in the black/white Tv days my father declared that watching Tv was nothing but chewing gum for the brain. It took a while before I fully understood what he was getting at. Today it makes perfect sense.
That's excellent. Thanks for sharing. The whole idea that news is meant to make you feel good and/or confirm your beliefs and assumptions -- arrgghh! Long time ago I heard or read somewhere "The truth will set you free -- but first it will piss you off." It's held up well.
100% correct. In my 47 years as a national journalist, I learned that my obligation was to tell the truth, not to placate some fraction of readers or sources.
I see no evidence that legacy media is willing to change a model that continues to bring in clicks and revenue.
The NBC/MSNBC debacle was the exception that proves the rule. A revolt by on-air talent, unwilling to descend into Fox-lite, is a symbol of catastrophic media collapse (for which there have been no resignations or firings).
As Timothy Snyder noted, media has surrendered in advance.
Misinformation/lies cannot be disrespected, and not giving air to them is not disrepecting or canceling the person who says them. If we called the speaker stupid or another slur that would be disrespect. Firing Rona is due to her years of publicly aiding and abetting Republican tenets of election denial and other hoaxes. Peer pressure against her actions and speeches got her fired from the news. Just as we speak to children about their misapprehensions, so do we need to stop treating MAGA/QANON agendas as if they are reasonable in any way. Rona does not deserve a soft landing.
Bingo! I want everyone to take this seriously coming from a man, a journalist/editor that champions truth, logic and ethics in our world. Secondly, the lube that fascism uses to gain penetration in citizens minds is the Big Lie(s) layers upon layers of it to erode our sensibilities and objection to confidence men. I'm not Ok with that BS from the merchants of malarkey. Thank you sir.
Keep up the steady drumbeat Mark and maybe the media will let up on the rampant bothsidesism. Your moon rocks comparison deserves to become a thing. “Let’s not moon rock it.” Or “what about moon rocks?”
We have moved way beyond false equivalencies and phony both-sidesism to the point where if one side is a lie, the media need to call it a lie. Full stop. And that comes with a cost. So be it. Fox News has and should pay dearly in court for propagating election lies. Real people got hurt. Good column Mark. Our democracy is at stake. That’s the truth.
What flummoxes me -- and I confess, I've been flummoxed a lot in the last few years -- is that a media outlet would hire anyone so closely identified with a political party that wants to toss the First Amendment, including that bit about freedom of the press. Does NBC have a death wish? Maybe they think the GOP is playing "April Fool!" all year-round?
There are still millions of anti-vaxxers out there. Should networks represent them even as the propaganda and ignorance of the anti-science crowd continues to kill people? As far as Zakaria goes, would he be comfortable with Bannon or Carlson? At least they weren't footing Trump's legal fees.
As always, the fundamental problem is that one of our two major parties has gone off the deep end. Business as usual can't go on, but the media keeps trying because they don't know what else to do.
I was furious that the media didn’t immediately make it clear that since Obama’s mother was an American citizen even if he had been born on the moon he would still be a natural born American citizen. When the same issue came up about Ted Cruz who was actually not born in the US it was quickly debunked and then dropped. Instead of using this as an opportunity to inform the public about the laws concerning this issue, the media let the rightwing frame the debate with the false implication that being born abroad disqualifies you from being president (or possibly that you just can’t be born in a country like Africa?). I repeatedly had to explain this to people I know by telling them have a grandchild who was born abroad and whose mother is not an American citizen but was quickly issued an American passport with no challenges from the State Department.
Well said. The media needs to come to terms with their mandate. They should not be airing/printing rumor or unfounded rebuttals. They should not report comment without fact checking it first. Otherwise they are complicit in perpetuating propaganda. This both sideism has corrupted the mission of the media: reporting the facts and the truth.
Thank you for this. I don't believe the media has a responsibility to give air time to the views of crackpots and liars. It's tragic that so many news outlts seem to think they owe the "other side" a platform even when that other side has an agenda completely divorced from the truth.
Years ago in the black/white Tv days my father declared that watching Tv was nothing but chewing gum for the brain. It took a while before I fully understood what he was getting at. Today it makes perfect sense.
It's not as if those "Republican sources" are bastions of honesty anyway.
Mark, have you read this letter by the Cleveland.com/Plain Dealer editor? It puts extra pep in my step: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2024/03/our-trump-reporting-upsets-some-readers-but-there-arent-two-sides-to-facts-letter-from-the-editor.html
Yes, good piece!
That's excellent. Thanks for sharing. The whole idea that news is meant to make you feel good and/or confirm your beliefs and assumptions -- arrgghh! Long time ago I heard or read somewhere "The truth will set you free -- but first it will piss you off." It's held up well.
100% correct. In my 47 years as a national journalist, I learned that my obligation was to tell the truth, not to placate some fraction of readers or sources.
I see no evidence that legacy media is willing to change a model that continues to bring in clicks and revenue.
The NBC/MSNBC debacle was the exception that proves the rule. A revolt by on-air talent, unwilling to descend into Fox-lite, is a symbol of catastrophic media collapse (for which there have been no resignations or firings).
As Timothy Snyder noted, media has surrendered in advance.
Leave it to Mark to cut to the core. Keep it coming!
Thanks, Richard.
Misinformation/lies cannot be disrespected, and not giving air to them is not disrepecting or canceling the person who says them. If we called the speaker stupid or another slur that would be disrespect. Firing Rona is due to her years of publicly aiding and abetting Republican tenets of election denial and other hoaxes. Peer pressure against her actions and speeches got her fired from the news. Just as we speak to children about their misapprehensions, so do we need to stop treating MAGA/QANON agendas as if they are reasonable in any way. Rona does not deserve a soft landing.
Bingo! I want everyone to take this seriously coming from a man, a journalist/editor that champions truth, logic and ethics in our world. Secondly, the lube that fascism uses to gain penetration in citizens minds is the Big Lie(s) layers upon layers of it to erode our sensibilities and objection to confidence men. I'm not Ok with that BS from the merchants of malarkey. Thank you sir.
Keep up the steady drumbeat Mark and maybe the media will let up on the rampant bothsidesism. Your moon rocks comparison deserves to become a thing. “Let’s not moon rock it.” Or “what about moon rocks?”
We have moved way beyond false equivalencies and phony both-sidesism to the point where if one side is a lie, the media need to call it a lie. Full stop. And that comes with a cost. So be it. Fox News has and should pay dearly in court for propagating election lies. Real people got hurt. Good column Mark. Our democracy is at stake. That’s the truth.
What flummoxes me -- and I confess, I've been flummoxed a lot in the last few years -- is that a media outlet would hire anyone so closely identified with a political party that wants to toss the First Amendment, including that bit about freedom of the press. Does NBC have a death wish? Maybe they think the GOP is playing "April Fool!" all year-round?
There are still millions of anti-vaxxers out there. Should networks represent them even as the propaganda and ignorance of the anti-science crowd continues to kill people? As far as Zakaria goes, would he be comfortable with Bannon or Carlson? At least they weren't footing Trump's legal fees.
As always, the fundamental problem is that one of our two major parties has gone off the deep end. Business as usual can't go on, but the media keeps trying because they don't know what else to do.
OMG! The elephant (and his herd) has been exposed! I’ve been waiting…now bring on your “friends!”
I was furious that the media didn’t immediately make it clear that since Obama’s mother was an American citizen even if he had been born on the moon he would still be a natural born American citizen. When the same issue came up about Ted Cruz who was actually not born in the US it was quickly debunked and then dropped. Instead of using this as an opportunity to inform the public about the laws concerning this issue, the media let the rightwing frame the debate with the false implication that being born abroad disqualifies you from being president (or possibly that you just can’t be born in a country like Africa?). I repeatedly had to explain this to people I know by telling them have a grandchild who was born abroad and whose mother is not an American citizen but was quickly issued an American passport with no challenges from the State Department.
What self-respecting journalist needs access to press releases from a propagandist hack?