The Unchecked Branch

Well, according to the ads on my blog, I'm a supporter of John Kerry now. Very amusing when you consider my politics. Of course, Mrs. X thinks I'm conservative enough to be chairman of the RNC, but I don't take it personally ;)

Much talk has been discussed (mostly in non-media circles) about the nature and problems with the press. In the past couple of years we've had the Jayson Blair scandal, the USAToday people firings, a couple of other incidents involving the NY Times, and of course, Robert Novak (guy who published CIA identities). I was reading Glenn Reynolds yesterday and he posted a story about how a couple of reporters were refusing to testify about some information they published in a story. The prosecutor wanted them to verify that the lawyer who was on trial had in fact told them the facts they used in their articles. They have refused so far as testifying would "compromise their neutrality" on the issue.

I'm not a lawyer, but I can't recall of any instance where a person was excused from testifying because it would force them to take sides. I believe that excuse is often thrown out the window when mob pigeons talk.

The press has long abandoned its true duty of informing the public. A proper press corp would state all the facts of a particular issue and leave it to the public to make up their mind about what to do about it. But in the age of news bites and 24 hour news coverage, its only some of the facts and we'll go ahead and summarize and tell you what you are supposed to think. Some of us are intelligent enough to filter out what they are saying and get the nuggets out of it. But too many people simply take the news at face value without looking at multiple sources and checking. I myself look at three different news sources when I read articles on-line. Each on presents a different perspective and it allows me to sift out what the truth is.

The press likes to call itself the "4th branch of government." However, they enjoy one aspect that the other three don't. They don't have a check and balance system on themselves. It takes great folly to knock down any reporter who has made up or embellished stories. And even then, news outlets are usually quite slow about correcting the issue and then they protect their own. Jayson Blair was dismissed as a NY Times reporter for making up stories. He then claimed it was racism that forced him out and he was quietly picked up by another outlet as a commentator and signed to a book deal. Robert Novak published the name of an active CIA agent, compromising any work that agent has done in the field. This is a felony, but Novak is still hiding behind protecting his source and no one is pursuing him out of fear of media reprisals.

I don't believe in policing the media by filtering out what they say, but we in the public should demand a much higher standard for the information we receive. If we do that, maybe we'll actually get news worth paying attention to now and again.