There is a very crude saying about “opinions” that has been around a long time. It says – “Opinions are like A#@ holes, everybody has one.” The tag line is that just because everyone has one, does not provide any quality assurance of the product.
Reading the stream of so-called “experts” advancing opinions on just about every current issue of importance reveals how lax the journalistic establishment has become regarding its duty to provide reasonably reliable information to the public. We have shifted from an information based media to an infotainment based media. Talking heads are pushed in our face, not because they have any credibility or special knowledge to justify their labels as “experts” in the subject, but because they are willing to provide good theater in an organized shouting match.
The agenda seems to be to pit two talking heads against each other and let them battle until time for the interview runs out. Never mind that the so-called experts lack substantive knowledge and are being paid or subsidized by the corporate interests whose “position” they are arguing. Forget that very few if any real facts are being published to actually inform the audience. News has become just another branch of PR and propaganda.
And reporters no longer have any semblance of objectivity in this process. If they want to write an article, like one I read today, about rising taxes in State governments, [http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com] they go find a representative from a [conservative] “tax monitoring organization” to provide sound bites to support the opinion or slant that the writer has chosen in advance. While railing against the increases in tax rates on higher bracket incomes, the representative “expert” makes no mention that these same protesters have demanded level or increased services from the State governments while resisting any measures to fund those services.
If one looks at the situation rationally, the gravy train had to come to an end. The “No NEW Taxes” mantra of the GOP resulted in continued services to the wealthy with tax reductions and no increases in taxes to pay for the rising cost of the public services. The benefit to the wealthy came at the expense of reducing essential social services and education funding. Now, in a recession economy when all the fat and flesh is gone and State governments are hacking at the bone, these same wealthy folks are whining because State governments are increasing marginal tax rates on those with income over $150,000. I weep for them in my cheap beer as they cry in their Perrier-Jouet. But the “reporter” seems to feel no obligation to take a critical look at the views of the so-called “expert.” There seems little if any effort to challenge the logic or veracity of the opinions being espoused.
Not every issue has two sides of equal merit or is appropriate for drama. I heard one interview a few days ago on Public radio that backfired. The host put on two police chiefs to discuss the Gates arrest in Cambridge and the police officer’s handling of the situation. One Chief was the head of a Black Police Officers’ organization, the other a White chief in a southern town in North Carolina. To the dismay of the host, looking to incite a race debate, BOTH chiefs said the same thing. They both gave the opinion that the police officer should have withdrawn and de-escalated the situation rather than arrest Prof. Gates. Despite several attempts by the host to incite an argument, both chiefs maintained that solid professional training of officers requires that they not allow themselves to be baited by irritated detainees or persons they encounter during investigations. Neither would recommend arrest of Gates, even if he had used abusive language after becoming upset. To the disappointment of the radio host, the experts actually knew what they were talking about and gave insightful information and opinions during the interview. Though this SHOULD have been the purpose of the interview, it resulted more from accident than from design or intent.
Another appalling example has been the media time and attention given to the “Birthers.” This right wing group of nutcases is arguing that President Obama has not sufficiently “proven” that he is a real American that was entitled by birth to US citizenship. Given that Obama went through perhaps the most scrutiny of any Presidential candidate in US history prior to election, and was sworn in as an official act by a Supreme Court Justice, it is absolutely certain that there is no shred of credible or even newsworthy evidence to support the position of this fringe group. Yet at a time when the public should be getting reliable information about health care proposals, media time and attention is devoted to supposed “debates” involving the position of these “Birthers.” If any example supports the saying, this example shows its veracity.
It is questionable whether the news media will ever be able to return to a level of professionalism in which stories are checked out before publication, in which the financial or political [often synonymous] interests of the so-called “experts” are disclosed when allowing the talking heads to offer their opinions. There is a line between censoring or filtering the news and exercising professional editorial judgment. By all means publish opposing viewpoints on important issues of the day. But in doing so, take care to do the homework expected of good journalists. Expose bias, hidden agendas and interests on the part of so-called experts. And above all, exercise some common sense. The freedom of press also entails some responsibility. Not every opinion deserves to get on the air or in the newspaper. Newspapers are going under in this country daily or being sold to conglomerates like News Corp. If a media organization cannot hew to the basic principles of solid honest professional journalism, why should we really care if they fail? But if we find a news organization that DOES adhere to those standards, then the public should rally to their support and help them stay alive.
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