Preserving Press Freedom
An editorial in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Protecting Press Freedom", is justly concerned about the actions of a US appeals court ("activist judges"?) in upholding contempt citations against reporters who refused to reveal sources. In summary remarks, they say
No administration in power is happy to read what newspapers write or what's reported on television. But the system of an independent, vigorous news media has served this country well since its beginning. It's a tradition worthy of preserving for future generations.
I support that statement, and want to remind the journalists and newspapers that they themselves have a critical part in preserving their independence. This is my short list for today of shortcomings I see with the Fourth Estate:
- Too Much Bootlicking — the press has, for whatever reason, come to value "access" to the White House and other centers of political power so much that they are losing their independence. They have come to rely too much on unquestioning acceptance of press statements made by those in power, to the detrement of fair and accurate reporting of the facts. Press statements are not statements of fact, but statements to be checked and investigated. The Press needs to regain its skepticism and stop worrying about the "access" that isn't worth the paper that the press pass is printed on.
- Indifference to Facts — reporters need to report facts, not the pseudo-facts that have become so popular with "journalists" who have a partisan ax to grind: journalists should be friends to no party, no politicians. Instead of gathering and then stating facts, today's journalist toady fabricates a story and a "viewpoint" by quoting others when they say something quotable, regardless of its veracity: it's not necessarily a fact even if it's a fact that someone said it. Lose the quotation marks and give us the facts!