The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution— Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Most of us believe in the right to free speech, but we quibble over what it means, e.g., almost nobody believes that you have the right to scream fire in a crowded theater, but we will argue over whether the burning of the flag is an expression of free speech. Similarly we have a common understanding of what freedom of the press means, we disagree over whether or not the press is objective in its reporting.
Edmund Burke is credited with coining the term and claiming the press as the ‘Fourth Estate’, what I will sometimes refer to in this piece as the ‘mainstream media’. Its traditional role is to be an institution that checks and balances those in power. Our media market today as become very polarized. There is a current belief that the mainstream media is biased towards a liberal world view. In response, the market has given us ‘Conservative’ talk radio and Fox ‘News’.
In a post yesterday Charles Johnson said “There’s a feeling among many people I know that the US media has almost completely lost the thread, abdicating their responsibilities by reporting falsehoods as truth, refusing to fact-check, and generally treating journalism as a horse race in which the only thing that matters is who wins.”
NBC host Chuck Todd, rightfully, took a lot of heat when he made this statement during an appearance on Morning Joe: ”it’s not his job to point out lies about the Affordable Care Act, because that would be helping President Obama by ‘selling’ it… During that segment on ‘Morning Joe,’ former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) speculated that most opponents of the Affordable Care Act have been fed erroneous information about the law. Todd said that Republicans ‘have successfully messaged against it’ but he disagrees with those who argue that the media should educate the public on the law. According to Todd, that’s President Barack Obama’s job.”
Statements like this show Todd’s willingness to try and justify abdication of his responsibilities as a member of the mainstream media–perhaps he should become a commentator or political pundit. In an attempt to deflect some of the heat, he immediately defended himself on twitter:
The problem for Todd is that his name appears next to the NBC logo, not Fox (more on Fox later). NBC professes to be a member of the Fourth Estate. Nobody asked Todd to promote White House policy, he volunteered a point of view, in which he wrongly claimed that it is not the media’s job to correct GOP falsehoods. With regards to his short-sighted utilitarian analysis of the situation, I do see a correlation between telling the truth and not telling the truth as having an implication for the liar. I fail to see, however, how that absolves you of your responsibility to seek the truth. Isn’t the GOP one of those centers of power that you are mandated to watch?
Todd did make specific reference to Obamacare, then we have every right to ask: Is this claim policy specific? And, if so, then who determines, which policies it’s okay to lie about, if they go unchecked by those with an opposing point of view? In any case, according to Todd, unchecked lying is something we have to live with, because for the mainstream media to challenge a lie, is to advocate for the other side.
There is a confluence of events that follows media reports–what these folks report influences people who vote, and that ultimately influences the direction of policy, which ultimately influences the quality of peoples lives. Since most citizens do not have the time to spend looking into and do not have direct access to the goings on, in the centers of power, they rely upon the press to keep them informed. It follows that there is a huge responsibility placed upon the press in its role as the Fourth Estate, which it has chosen to accept– to be accurate and as factual as possible.
A side note: according to Webster a ‘fact’ is defined as something that truly exists or something that has actual existence. A fact, then is a true piece of information that is distinct from an opinion or a falsehood. If that is the case about the nature of facts, then one of the lesser well-known facts is that a fact, is a fact, in a red state and a blue state. Simply put 2+2=4 in both New York and Mississippi.
The press frequently remains ‘passive’ believing that if it presents the views of all parties to an issue, then it is meeting its mandate to be fair. Its viewers/readers can make up their own minds from the conflicting points of view as they are presented. The back and forth might make for great television ratings, but not all points of view are factual.
The problem with a passive role is that fairness is often conflated with being factual. In other words, just because the press gives equal voice (in terms of time) to opposing sides, does not mean that the press is facilitating a factual account of that which is being discussed—both sides could be wrong or lying, or one side can just be plain right.
However, being proactive can be equally dangerous. Take Fox ‘News’, an organization, which despite its protestations to contrary is biased in its reporting, and is a clear advocate for the Republican point of view. Bret Baier hosted a proactive piece, a special advocating legislation against the SNAP program, which if adopted could knock nearly 3.8 million people off of food stamps. The center piece of the Baier obfuscation is Jason Greenslate, a surfer and now star of the Fox anti-SNAP campaign. It appears Greenslate may have bilked the system, and abused the food stamp program. It does not matter to Fox that he is an outlier, and that SNAP is a very important program, which helps an enormous number of people in great need.
It does not matter to Fox, that the USDA, the administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service, reports that: “Due to increased oversight and improvements to program management by USDA, the trafficking rate has fallen significantly over the last two decades, from about 4 cents on the dollar in 1993 to about 1 cent in 2006-08 (most recent data available).” One percent in government waste is nearly unheard of.
There is further deceit to this story. Baier is one of the few Fox personalities with a reputation as straight-shooting, “a down-the-middle avatar of fairness notwithstanding…The Great Food Stamp Binge shows that he’s just as capable of the sort of partisan chicanery the cable news-watching world has come to expect from the uniformly conservative, pro-GOP Fox News commentary division.” Now we come to learn that Baier proactively advocates under the banner of journalistic integrity. I guess, as opposed to passively advocating, like Mr. Todd.
Whether sitting back and passively letting the truth be misrepresented, or proactively putting forth a misleading and dishonest agenda (while representing yourself as ‘an avatar of fairness’) is an unforgivable abdication of responsibility. Fox is not regarded as a member of the Fourth Estate, so they do not surprise us. However, NBC is a member, and if it going to live up to its mandate as a member, its journalists need to live up to their responsibility and integrity. They are obligated by the requirements of journalistic integrity to let their audience know– somebody is lying about the facts.
It is particularly egregious in the case of Obamacare because there is no substantive alternative policy—opposition is a bunch rhetoric and fear mongering, in attempts to keep the public misinformed. Todd is complicit in that effort by refusing to call out what he acknowledges to be lies.
Postscript: As I mentioned, what the media reports effects the lives of people. Yesterday, (September 19) the House voted down the SNAP appropriations bill, citing the concern for abuse. Many Congresspeople noted they were influenced by Fox misinformation, in Baier’s piece. Fox, apparently, circulated this piece in Congress. This vote could leave nearly 5 million people hungry. Given all the misinformation Fox supplied Romney, you would think the Republican Congress might do some independent investigation. I guess, the job description for Republican staffers is to watch Fox, in order ‘to inform’ the Congressperson for whom they work. In defense of Fox, of course, they are not member of the Fourth Estate, but a response too it!
Postscript Two: Today the Republican controlled House voted to shut down the government unless Obamacare is repealed. In less then 24 hours the House of the People has voted to take away the people’s food and their healthcare.
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