I curtsy to no man in recognizing that media today are becoming more openly ideological. But acknowledging a point of view in newer entrants shouldn’t blind us to the fact that the “old media” are far from the model of open-mindedness they seem to feel they are.
And I don’t mean just the fact that coverage on such subjects as gun control or abortion often is knee-jerkishly liberal. Or the fact that, in over-reaction to those very “liberal media” charges, the occasional abortion-rights march — to take an example — is seriously UNDERplayed.
That little herky-jerky dance is lamentable. But I’m talking about a deeper and broader truth: The establishment media are so terminally ESTABLISHMENT. And they don’t seem to get how much of a bias that is.
This thought struck recently as I read “The Ascendancy of News with a View” in Newsday. The gist of it is that folks like George Stephanopoulos and Ted Koppel are alarmed to find that some Americans are looking to sources other than the likes of ABC to get an idea of what’s really going on. I mean, sources like “Fahrenheit 9/11” or Rush Limbaugh.
These misguided news consumers, Stephanopoulos tells us, “very sincerely, very earnestly” believe that they’re getting actual factual information from such sources. Koppel, sharing George’s alarm at this notion, says he is “concerned that on both sides of the political spectrum, that if what Americans feel they have to get is news with an attitude, what they’re going to end up losing is some of the objectivity that traditionally people in our business have tried [to attain] at least. We don’t always succeed, but we have tried.”
I have sympathy for this view. I’m worried too about Americans more and more wanting to hear only from those who agree with them. But I am powerfully struck that it doesn’t occur to George and Ted –- and all the other sources in the article — that traditional media also have a viewpoint.
Traditional media have a viewpoint. It’s a good old conventional, “acceptable,” middle-of-the-road viewpoint. It’s the viewpoint, generally speaking, of the powerful — which is by and large, even today, the view of well-to-do male white folks. Like Ted and George. (Forgive me for noting that everybody in Newsday‘s long and citation-rich piece seems to belong to this privileged group.)
Would anyone who has ever been part of a movement for change –- civil rights, feminism, anti-war, you name it -– believe that the mainstream media offer so full and rich and open-minded and comprehensive a menu that no one need go elsewhere for an accurate picture of what’s going on?
What has the recent spate of mea culpas in The New York Times ($$), The Washington Post, and the Lexington Herald-Leader shown us, ultimately, if not that these media were in thrall to the reigning conventional wisdom?
When we old-media types come up with our high-sounding prescriptions for the proper media diet for the responsible American citizen, we could stand a reminder that people aren’t fools to think that there’s truth to be sought outside conventional media. The narrower the conventional media -– and we do go through our cycles — the more info there is to be found elsewhere. Thus, in this post 9/11 world, have documentaries set records, and political books flown off the shelves. Some of these partisan upstarts have a thing or two to say. The people are listening. Are we?
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Two other quick notes. One of the most interesting things happening in media criticism is the Bay Area’s “Grade the News.” Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle did an interesting interview with the site’s leader, John McManus, which features some delicious straight talk about journalism.
Finally, an immodest plug for a recent radio show with a terrific discussion of the reporters’ privilege issue. I took part but, more important, so did Floyd Abrams, Lucy Dalglish, Dan Okrent, and Vanessa Leggett. Check it out at WBUR’s “The Connection.”
