The Insipid Ideology of the Fourth Estate and How It's Idiotic Insolence Has Led to an Ignominious Decline.

The Insipid Ideology of the Fourth Estate and How It’s Idiotic Insolence Has Led to an Ignominious Decline.  As I have written before in previous blogs, I am certainly no great fan of President Trump.  While having serious doubts and reservations about his qualifications as our nation’s leader, I am totally on board with the direction he is taking in almost all of his policy and personnel initiatives.   For whatever reason, he has chosen to engage the mainstream media in a high profile, bombastic debate about their treatment of him and his Administration.  I am very reluctant to jump into such a confrontation that is obviously being driven by many instincts other than honorable ones, but I must line up with Trump’s troops in this discussion.

It is indicative of the respect and reverence that America once held for journalism that it is often referred to as the Fourth Estate; from the British House of Commons, Edmund Burke reportedly originated the phrase.  And though our government is different in many ways from the English model and the phrase has been twisted and turned over time to suit many various agendas and arguments, its loose meaning remains that our nation depends upon journalism to provide an honest, accurate, timely, and ethical picture of exactly what is occurring with the three official branches of our government.  It is most important, however, to begin with the clear understanding that while our three branches of government…the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial…are all selected by the citizenry, the journalistic profession is a self-appointed, largely self-policed, entity that serves and functions at the pleasure of the American consumer.  Once upon a time, the main product being consumed was actual reporting of the news; prominently featuring an unbiased accounting of events and people involved in the governance of our nation.  I do not believe it is abundantly clear exactly what the citizenry is consuming these days and exactly what the journalistic community is trying to sell.

The journalistic community has always been predominantly a liberal-leaning industry. That is largely a function of the fact that we have a farm system of liberal higher learning institutions supplying it with reporters and broadcast personalities.  There was a time, not too long ago, when most of the respectable journalists in the mainstream media maintained a balance between their personal political beliefs and their professional reporting.  As they have retired and in some cases departed this world, we have learned that many of the most respected television newsmen were indeed closet liberals.  But it is a tribute to their careers as journalists that we have discussed this after the fact, not during their active careers.  Propaganda is a powerful and intoxicating tool and it can sometimes corrupt even the most honorable men.  Many times in the art and science of journalism, the intended manipulation of the reporting is not so much exactly what is said as in how it is presented.  To an astute observer who might watch many diverse sources of reporting, it becomes clear when a television station or a newspaper or a magazine or a website develops an all too predictable pattern of partisan positioning that transcends the essence of honest journalism.  When a source repeatedly broadcasts only negative stories about a particular party, or a particular policy, or a particular individual…we become increasingly aware of exactly what the source’s intent is.  Far too often in today’s world, that goal is not respectable journalism and is quite simply…pursuit of a partisan agenda.

I was raised as a conservative Republican and late in life changed to a conservative-to-moderate Independent; but up until a relatively few years back, I relied on the New York Times as a good source of reporting.  It is a great loss to the profession that the Old Gray Lady is now more accurately referred to as the New York Slimes and has thrown any modicum of unbiased political reporting to the wind.  I moved on to the Washington Post in an effort to get a balanced picture of exactly how our government is operating.  That paper has morphed into the Washington Most always being used as a liberal Democrat mouthpiece.  We see the same things on the opposite side of the political aisle with Fox News, the New York Post, and many other sources parroting Republican talking points.  Each party has its advocates and shills that put themselves out as honorable journalists, but instead pursue a thinly-veiled agenda of partisan hackery.  The real tragedy in all of this ethical decay is not so much the loss of honest reporting; it is the simple disgust of watching people in such a state of denial practicing the shameless hypocrisy of pretending to be something they clearly are not. The once clear line between news reporting and opinion journalism has been pretty well obliterated.

President Trump is right on most of his points about the mainstream media doing everything within their power to portray his Administration in a negative fashion.  They do this because they no longer have sufficient self concept to realize they do not represent the majority of people in this country.  They continue to sell a product that the public does not want to consume.  They have the skills and the resources to do their job in the right way, but they have allowed their personal beliefs to infect their professional product.  They live and work inside a bubble that is only populated by people who believe as they do.  The hard work and effort required to maintain an ethical balance in reporting has been discarded for the easier route of simply reporting what feels good…feels good to them.  On the other hand, the mainstream media is absolutely correct in their protestations about President Trump’s thin skin and over-reaction to many of the current events that can, and should, be responsibly reported in a way that casts the Administration in a less-than-glowing light.  But they are so consumed with their own conviction of self-importance and entitlement that their legitimate complaints are being drowned out by their incessant whining.  The Fourth Estate has come to believe that it is the Fourth Branch of our government; which of course, it is not.  They run around screaming “Look at me!” instead of doing a good job that will encourage people to seek them out.

The relationship between a President, his Administration, and the journalistic community is a complex one.  It is unfair to point to a single episode or event and hold it up as an example of how that relationship is proceeding.  Having said that, however, it is illuminating to see the childish pique the press has been thrown into by President Trump’s new press conference procedures.  The Associated Press, one of those sources who has seen its bi-partisan image greatly tarnished, is totally infuriated that it no longer receives the first question at each and every press conference.  Really?  CNN and ABC are incensed that there are occasions when they get no questions at all; instead allowing those questioning slots to go to a broader array of journalistic sources from across the nation to gain greater journalistic representation.  

Hey Press...Get over Yourselves!  It ain’t about You!  It is about the News!  Just as President Trump allows his critics to pull him into time and resource wasting arguments about trivial affairs, the media allows President Trump to expose them as the spoiled children they have become.  We, the public consumer, are apparently finding these infantile food fights rather entertaining; but that entertainment value is going to diminish rapidly if nothing gets done.  If the Trump Administration continues to allow itself to be brought down into the mud for media contests without merit that really serve no purpose, it will not be productive.  If the mainstream media continues to behave in a partisan and sophomoric fashion, the public will not consume its product.  People will more and more be pushed to an idealistically autonomous news source of their choice, which will only serve to further divide this nation.  The oblivious media sources will go broke and the people will become more ignorant.  Everyone will lose.

It is hard to imagine this circus that is being performed by President Trump and the mainstream media can continue over a four-year presidential term; but neither side is showing any indication of backing up.  Getting objective and professional political news coverage is becoming increasingly difficult for the average citizen.  Modern technology certainly helps, but it takes time and effort to seek out differing opinions and agendas.  Lots of folks either don’t have the time or won’t take the time to do it.  It is in everyone’s best interests for our current Presidential Administration and the Fourth Estate to find some semblance of a peaceful and respectful coexistence; one that holds the necessary amount of tension and doubt, but is also heavily seasoned by a healthy dose of professionalism.