Objectivity? Ethics? We Don’t Need No Stinking Journalists!

If the Democrat Party is ultimately successful in their strategy to shelter their nominee Kamala Harris from public scrutiny and sell her to the voters as some cosmic variation of vibes and joy…well then, our democratic process truly is in jeopardy.  In fact, the damage will likely run far deeper than that.

 

Perhaps the majority of voters have decided that the President of our country is not really that important…not really essential to their well-being.  Perhaps they are more interested in hip imagery and cool quips that seem to slip off the lip and land softly on the ear.  Perhaps they do not really care about our Constitution and are comfortable with the way our government has been running for the last three-plus years.  Perhaps they are unconcerned that America has powerful, evil, and resourceful enemies abroad whose purpose in existing is to destroy our nation and…these folks are salivating at the vacuous leadership that the U.S. has demonstrated during the Biden/Harris presidency.  Perhaps people are beat down and so disillusioned with politics in general that they feel any attempt towards a serious approach to voting is farcical on its face.  Perhaps they feel so powerless that their main concern is not trying to right the ship, but rather to find something firm to hold onto so they do not get tossed overboard.  All of these feelings would be understandable effects of the world in which we live.

 

One thing is for certain: The mainstream media is playing the American voters for fools.  They are openly, unashamedly, and quite effectively doing everything in their power to tilt the electoral board to the favor of the Democrat Party and the candidates that they put forth.  There is no blush of embarrassment about saying something one day and saying something totally opposite the next; no explanation is needed nor offered.  The investigative standards they apply to their favored candidates pale in comparison to the magnifying glasses they put upon the candidates that they scorn.  They claim no evidentiary basis upon which to base their non-news, opinionated news reports and exhibit astronomical heights of hubris in their expectation for all to consume their goods with no questions whatsoever.  And why wouldn’t they act like this?  After all, it has been working pretty successfully for some time now.

 

Where was the first presidential debate?  CNN.  Where is the next one scheduled? ABC.   There may be more; there may not.  There is no excuse for these debates not to be on both conservative and liberal platforms with both conservative and liberal moderators.  Why do Republicans insist on running these campaigns with one hand tied behind them?  Even when they are on their best (least partisan) behavior, mainstream media condescension and antipathy towards Republicans simply drips from their presentations.  If you watch their faces and body language closely, they treat conservatives as if they are some type of other-worldly creatures.  They choose carefully what to report and what not to report.  They slant the coverage of what they choose to report on.  They ignore the misdeeds of their favorites while hammering the foibles of their despised.  Their insolent hubris is limitless and their unsupported sense of entitlement is not only dumbfounding…it is also disgusting.  American journalism, by and large, is in the dark deep throes of an Orwellian complex.

 

The best illustration I can find for this shameful dynamic is the recent Time magazine puff piece about Kamala Harris.  Time put an iconic-centric picture of Harris on its cover with the title “Her Moment”.  I won’t address how lopsided this kid gloves treatment of Harris is compared to the brutally critical approach Time has taken to all things Donald Trump (including “his” Time cover picture).  That patently obvious bias speaks for itself.  The incredible thing about this recent article on Harris is the fact that in spite of Time’s fawning and non-critical approach to all things Kamala…she refused to be interviewed for the article.  The fact that Time was willing to accept these terms, along with her “let them eat cake” attitude, clearly depicts how low they have placed themselves in their fealty to the Democrat Party and the progressive elements in our political world.

 

No doubt, there are conservative media platforms that are just as guilty as the liberal/progressive platforms in the way they handle the “news”.  But the simple fact is that the overall presence and influence of those liberal/progressive sources, aka the Mainstream Media, far outweighs the effective reach of the conservative sources.  They are both equally guilty of the same prevarication; it is just that one does it so much more prominently and frankly, is much better at doing it.   A sign of the times is that we all gravitate to the news sources that we are comfortable with; we seek validation of what we personally believe.  The internet and streaming options that we have makes that all too easy and we take full advantage of it. 

 

But living in those little bubbles of information puts blinders on us.  We lose sight of the fact that the little bubbles we inhabit are not really that significant in the overall state of things.  The fact is that CNN, Fox, MSNBC, Newsmax, etc. reach only a fraction of the viewers held by ABC, CBS, and NBC.  We might want to stand up and cheer when Hannity goes after Biden or Morning Joe goes after Trump; but their attacks pale in comparison to what the traditional mainstream media is broadcasting.  No matter how you might choose to characterize its content, the progressive/liberal influence in the Fourth Estate dwarfs that of the conservative.  Given the fact that academia and the education intelligentsia provide our newsrooms with their personnel…why should we expect anything else?

 

The simple truth is that the politicians the media covers…ALL of the politicians the media cover…are egomaniacal and arrogant in their pursuit of power, wealth, and influence.  Why else do these people put themselves through the personal wringer of pursuing political office?  I have to believe that we, the voters, have pretty much come to expect that and have been fairly comfortable with picking out the least of the existing evils to our own taste.  But this is no reason for the media to lower itself to the standards of the politicians.  I would like to think that if the media purports to present to us the facts, they would approach that task in an apolitical fashion.  Yes…I will say it out loud: The media should be holding itself to higher standards than our elected officials.  Their influence is that great; their product is that significant; and their place in our culture and society is that essential.

 

Look…I have no problem with everyone having their own opinion; we are all different people with different thoughts.  That is freedom; that is liberty.  But when discussing the Fourth Estate, it is not unreasonable for us, the consumers of their product, to demand a truth in labeling standard.  They are also entitled to their opinion.  Just draw for us a clear line between where the facts lie and where your opinion lies.  Do not blend them in a perverted fashion that allows you, the media, to insert facts that might be only privy to yourself with your own personal agenda in a way that effectively supports your opinions. 

Do not treat me as an automaton.  Give your consumers a level of respect to think for themselves and form their own opinions, no matter how outrageous, self-serving, or foolish they might be.  Give us the same privilege that you demand for yourselves.  Allow us, the consumer, to judge you on how well you obtain the truth and how well you report the truth to us.  Let us further judge you on how effectively you delineate between the facts and your opinions.  Do not judge us on the opinions we independently form.  Look at yourselves; surely you want to be better than this.

 

If you, the media, wish to actively support a candidate or an agenda, then that is your right.  We, the consumer, can take it or leave it.  Just do not disrespect your consumer and lower your own credibility by mixing up facts and opinions in ways that are clearly biased, dishonest, and shamefully deceptive.  Find some pride in your work; put some ethics in your journalism; realize that people have choices in their news/opinion searches to either shop around or to tune it out entirely.  Work hard and professionally to achieve high ethical standards in your profession and take the risk on being judged according to those metrics.  Our nation will be better for it.