to my DFP article cross-posted here.
I want to apologize if I offended you in any way. You, and those like you, were in no way my intended target.
I thought I was clear in that I was referring to the TV MSM – and if I was not as clear as I could have been, I apologize yet again for my lack of skill.
I am well aware that many in the print media, along with smaller-reach radio and local TV news outlets, did their best to be true journalists. Sadly, their efforts went mostly unnoticed in the face of the blare of 24/7 cable news networks, and major well-established “newscasters” who reach millions of viewers every night and, by virtue of that fact, actually have the power to sway the opinions of millions of citizens.
Given their influence, these so-called journalists should be (and are often mistaken for) the best and the brightest in their field, those whose journalistic integrity is broadly accepted as being beyond reproach. It is the fact that they, and their employers, continually abuse that lofty position that is despicable beyond all measure.
My grandma was an avid newspaper reader. She “settled down with the papers” every night after dinner, and believed every word she read. She always felt that “if it wasn’t true, they wouldn’t be allowed to print it.”
This widely-held attitude was transferred to the nightly TV news when it became the easier and more popular way to inform oneself as to the events of the day. “If it wasn’t true, they wouldn’t be allowed to say it on television.” And there was a time when that trust seemed well-placed – the time of Walter Cronkite, the time of Edward R. Murrow.
Had the lead-up to, and the subsequent cheering of, the Iraq War been the only time the mainstream TV media had been less than vigilant in their reportage, or a bit too willing to spread the Bush administration’s propaganda under the guise of “journalism”, many of us would have forgiven their lone trespass against us, their fellow citizens.
It is the fact that this was not an isolated lapse in journalistic integrity, but part of a pattern of propaganda-for-pay, that sticks in the craw of a country that can do better, and a citizenry that deserves better.
I meant no disrespect to the many real journalists who did their best to speak the truth, and did so with integrity and a true dedication to their profession. It is a sad commentary on the current state of affairs to know that they (and you) are still relegated to the shadows, while those who helped lie us into war are still in the limelight – and have the salaries to prove it.
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