Normally I avoid being political, especially on my blog. The primary reason is practical. I want people to read my blog and to follow it no matter their political inclinations or affiliations.
Additionally, my blog is about cinema and literature; thematically it is about crime. And though I’ve been known to stretch the framework a bit, I like to keep it within this wheelhouse.
However, recently I heard something that scraped an exposed nerve so brazenly that I’m going to veer off course. So be forewarned.
Here is what I heard, verbatim:
“I will tell you that all the cable TV shows in the world, all the front pages of newspapers in the world, all the editorials, all the tweets in the world don’t matter a hill of beans when somebody you know walks up to you and says, ‘Let me tell you why I’m voting for Donald Trump. Everywhere I go in this country … I’m just telling people, go tell somebody. Because the sheer weight of you taking time to find somebody at work, at worship, outside the drug store, and just saying, put that great make America great hat on again, and just walk up to them and say, ‘For real, you know me, let me tell you why I’m so passionate about this.’ Because word of mouth is still the most powerful media in America, and it always will be.”–Mike Pence
This statement from our Vice President sounded an alarm with me because it is a variation of something that I have heard many times growing up from my late mother (a self employed hairstylist) and have said myself (as a small business owner):
“Word of mouth is the best advertising.”
So then, this is what it’s come to? It hasn’t happened overnight or in a vacuum, but here we are being encouraged by our Vice President, albeit it cleverly, almost subliminally–just like when we are coerced into to buying a bag of Oreo cookies or a SUV–to forgo professional journalistic reporting for word of mouth. Insidious. Ridiculous. But true.
Now before I go any further let me be clear, I do not revere the press, e.g., journalists, the mainstream media, etc. Hardly. In fact, I do not revere anything except God.
That said, I used to have a deep respect for journalists. No more. That’s because they’ve headed straight for the pile of excrement and not only stepped in it, but drug all of us through it in the process.
That’s right. They did it willingly.
They did it when they deluded one of the basic principals of their profession:
OBJECTIVITY
Journalists are expected to probe, to investigate, to gather information and report it objectively, in an equitable manner, so that we the people can make an informed decision. Hence we are not supposed to have stories presented from cherry picked facts and Republican and or Democrat news networks. We are not supposed to–but we do.
Little wonder that we are a divided nation touting our caste system of blue states and red states like the gang territories and colors of the Bloods and Crips. It has been said that we have entered a cold civil war. I believe it.
How did we get here? I think I have an idea.
You see, I come from a one television set family. Consequently, I watched more news than the average kid or teenager. From an early age I was aware that the news media leaned left. Notice that I have emphasized the word leaned.
So then, let’s look at the word lean. Let’s examine the contextual Merriam Webster definition:
To tend or move toward in opinion, taste, or desire. “She leans toward the city life.”
Now let’s look at the word point and examine its definition contextually:
To show someone the direction in which they should go. “Could you point me in the direction of the lobby?”
Is there even anyone who denies that the mainstream news media has traditionally leaned toward the left? I dare say no.
The mainstream news media has not, however, traditionally pointed toward the left. This phenomenon has happened only within the last ten years when MSNBC took a blatant hard turn to the left, supposedly to counter and to compete with Fox News’ hard right reporting. Lately MSNBC has made some overtures at returning to more centrist based reporting style but their emphasis still decidedly points toward the left.
Ergo, the left leanings of the press have hardly been benign. They have irked and isolated those on the right and have given rise to Fox News which has become a virtual appendage of the Republican party and almost a rubber stamp for the Trump administration. Notice I have emphasized the word almost.
That’s because there has been some rumblings of late about President Trump on even this proud bastion of the right, namely from Fox News anchor and commentator Neil Cavuto. Cavuto has blasted Trump repeatedly, since May, on issues like his disastrous press conference with Vladimir Putin, on saying he knew nothing of payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal and then, finally, admitting that he paid them, and for threatening that the economy would tank and everybody would become poor if he is impeached.
This leads to the question, could it be a mere coincidence that in the midst of Cavuto’s subversion, Vice President Pence issues his pronouncement that the news media doesn’t really matter? That all we really need is word of mouth?
This possibility is profoundly chilling, for every dictator known to mankind has first undermined the free press before undermining anything else. But even more chilling is the hard cold fact that we the people are undermining our great country by dividing ourselves. And sadly, instead of holding fast to its ethical principals, the press, which is supposed to be a safety valve for our democracy, has followed us into our sectarianism.
But in this precarious, destructive environment does it really matter who started the decent into the vacuum? Isn’t it more important that we hit the brakes before we are not only divided but before we are conquered as well?
I read a lot of US bloggers, and since 2016, many have become (understandably) consumed with the politics of their country. Some openly supporting the president, but the majority wondering what happened, and struggling to believe what’s going on now. The explosion of social media, accelerated during the last decade, has changed the face of reporting, and led journalism in all forms to both try to influence, and compete with, the storm of texts, tweets, feeds, and opinionated bloggers. In the UK, it is often stated that most people get their news from Facebook now. Newspapers are in decline, and TV news is so obsessed with the antics of celebrities and influential people, it treats their everyday lives and their pronouncements as if they are newsworthy.
We are all facing a change in what constitutes the delivery of informative, supposedly balanced news reporting. That change is not a good change, that’s for sure, and the other has all but ceased to exist.
(As for the ‘Left’ in America, that’s a relative term. I think it needs a new name, as it isn’t anywhere close to being Left-Wing, as I understand it.)
Best wishes, Pete.
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The news is hard to decipher. I will see headlines that directly contradict each other and wonder where the truth lies. Isn’t it ironic that we have greater access to information than ever, yet the objective truth is hard to find, and many aren’t trying to find it anyway?
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Yes. It is sad. I took some Journalism in college (Ha!) and integrity and objectivity were zealously taught. Over the years, left leaning news coverage has eroded conservatives trust in the press. I do not, however, believe that there is a left wing conspiracy of lies within the mainstream press. It is dangerous to preach these things and to undermine the press. This erosion scares me a lot more than some cherry picked facts that I can see through.
Thanks for reading, Lily.
–Pam
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Hi Pam,
I compliment you on your bravery to take on this daunting topic. I agree that a free-though-tainted press is better than a controlled, stifled one. I’m grateful I have the choice to flip between Fox and MSNBC.
God have mercy on us all during these difficult times.
dw
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Thank you DW. It is a difficult subject. I will speak out against this charlatan in the office of the presidency. God forgive me, but I can’t stand him. I don’t hate though.
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Great post 🙂 Perhaps one of the major problems with 24-hour news networks regardless of where they lean politically (right and left) is that 10 percent of the time, the shows are dedicated towards reporting the news and 90 percent of the time selling it. In other words, each network is spending most of the time spinning facts.
One of the biggest problems nowadays is that the cultures relating to both politics and the media have been dismissed as jokes for the past numerous decades. Not so much in relation to political affiliation as much as judging both on their track records. Sadly, half of the number of Americans I know (or maybe more) have gotten this feeling that our military expenditures beginning with the Korean War and beyond have been imperialist (quotes or no quotes) missions that were not worth wasting American lives and taxpayers money over. Add to that, our ever continued support of repressive regimes and it just gets more depressing from there. On the outside, Donald Trump only comes off as the lesser of the two evils because he ran as an outsider and let’s face it, rightly or wrongly fairly or unfairly, Americans have grown weary of leaders with experience due to how dysfunctional Washington has become. The news media have sadly not made things better as they have just stood beside and supported whatever half baked foreign policy situation cooked up in Washington and only to pretend to oppose it later on (i.e. the Iraq war). On the inside, Trump may just be continuing Washington’s ever corrupt culture. Or maybe I have it mixed around. All we can do is just sit back and just observe. Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
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Great response. I couldn’t have written it any better. Washington is dysfunctional. Even with a Republican President, House and Senate, it is dysfunctional. And, as far as I’m concerned, thank God it is dysfunctional right now. Thank God it is not just a rubber stamp for Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a failed experiment. Not only that, more importantly, he is a dangerous experiment. I can understand undertaking the experiment–the longing for something different, something that would shake up Washington–but the experiment has engulfed the laboratory in flames. It’s time to put out the fire. Just my two cents. Thank you for your very intelligent, thoughtful response. Always a pleasure.
–Pam
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Well said. What happened to “objectivity”? I think it just pays less than pandering to an audience and gathering ratings to turn around and sell advertisements.
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I think you are absolutely right about that…The 24 hour news cycle has been terrible for the credibility of Journalism. Sometimes it’s tempting to write them off, but that is far more dangerous.
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In a way, I write off everybody – at least I take nothing at face value. I don’t trust the media, politicians, etc… only God’s Word can be trusted. Even the Word must be poured over to understand the depth of the Message.
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I often say the same thing, though in a slightly different context, perhaps. For me, I say that I only have complete faith in God. Everyone else has the capacity to let me down because they are human–just as I have let even those that I love the most down. Not proud of it, but it’s true, at one time or another. And the sad part of it is I still will–given the time–let people down even though my intentions are basically good.
I think it is dangerous to think that the media is corrupt to the extent that we disregard it. We should recognize that they are human, that they have bias and preconceived notions even though their standard of ethics demands that they are unbiased. In other words they are human and they fall short of their standards as we all do from time to time, but for the most part they take their jobs and commitment to holding those in power accountable and to reporting on important events of the day seriously. Sorry to get on a soapbox but I have a slight Journalism background–i.e., I took a couple of courses in high school and college. Ha! Still it is a passionate subject for me.
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I’m not so much skeptical of journalism, but the reality that disinformation can intentionally be fed to the news outlets by government for political gain. I’m into conspiracy theories, so nothing is off the table.
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Ha! Well, I think there have been conspiracies. I don’t believe in the lone shooter, a,K,a., Lee Harvey Oswald and there have been other things. I think some skepticism is healthy. Thanks for commenting.
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