Wednesday, September 04, 2002

Talk about not getting it. Over at Editor and Publisher.com Alex Jones is perplexed. He can't quite seem to figure out why the pulic doesn't care for or necessarily trust the media.

This spring and summer, that day came. The triumphant story ran its course, and the what-really-happened story began to be covered, with disquieting results. We started to get reports that there were significant civilian casualties, and serious questions began to be raised about the wisdom of an invasion of Iraq. Darkening the news atmosphere further were the stories of Enron Corp., Global Crossing, and the betrayal of shareholders. The market fell. The news from the Middle East had seldom been worse. These past six months have not been a happy time on the news pages.

So, has the public simply returned to its pre-9/11 attitude when the press returned to its normal adversarial role as the news itself turned bad? When the lapdog turned back into a watchdog?

Perhaps if it was just a case of them becoming watchdog and not using their lead stories and itemsreported as 'news' to convey their editorial spin. But Jones seems to think it is just because we are not comfortable with questioning and delving into stories. He then goes on to prove exactly why we don't like them.

There are genuine assaults on the press now under way that make these questions especially urgent. The Bush administration is taking unprecedented steps to limit access to public records, and the Freedom of Information Act is in real jeopardy. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made many Pentagon officials afraid to be seen speaking to journalists, and lately the FBI has been conducting a scorched-earth search for the source of leaks on Capitol Hill.

Such evenhanded and non-inflammatory 'reporting' of 'facts'.

The point is that we need the public's support, now more than ever. We need for the public to understand that it is not unpatriotic to want government officials to leak information.

What? Getting leaks on specific military and terrorist information and plastering it above the fold and rehashing it every hour, so every enemy of America with a computer or cable access knows our plans isn't unpatriotic?

We need them to believe we are acting on their behalf when we fight for such things.

Sort of gives the game away. Not 'We have to prove to the public that we are acting on their behalf". Instead the public must believe it. What a gagfest. He askes questions and then figures out it is all the public's fault. They just don't understand what is good for them. They are too dumb to realize that brave reporters are bringing them unslanted and unbiased truth.

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