Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! I said it. I’m as
guilty as the next one. I watch what I want to believe and I listen to what I
want to believe. Or, do I watch and listen to what I think I should believe, or
should think? I suppose a Philosophy 101 professor could make a whole class out
of that one question. It’s a bit like debating if the ends justify the means,
and it-all-depends isn’t an acceptable answer. Whole civilizations deal with
that one!
Since its inception, Fox News reflects a viewpoint more
than a little right of center. They proclaim themselves fair and balanced, but
we know their true colors. They were so successful at what they did that the
left of center liberals had to have their own channel and MSNBC was hatched to
be the competitor for American ideas. Both channels made CNN, the patriarch of
cable news; seem like a middle of the road milquetoast.
Years beyond the memory of most of today’s
population the US had three major TV channels. Some would argue five or six,
but the extras were really minor league. NBC, ABC, and CBS ruled the airwaves
for a half-hour each evening as the nation sat in front of the new TV and listened
to a synopsis of the day’s important events. A fellow by the name of Walter
Cronkite attracted the most viewers most evenings. He was the most trusted
person in America by most measures. He earned his chops because he read the
news well, keyed in on the important, and had no opinions. Perhaps his most
outward show of emotion was when he announced the death of JFK; he took off his
dark horned-rimmed glasses, and said nothing for a second or two, and then
continued reporting the terrible story.
Cable News Network started it all on June 1, 1980.
There are days when I find it hard to forgive Ted Turner for doing this to us,
but if I want real breaking news I head to CNN. It’s a muscle reflex learned
back then when it was at its best, a news channel. When we were in France we
listened to CNN. When we were in Italy, we listened to CNN because they
broadcast in English. When we were in the UK we listened to CNN because the
Brits don’t really speak English, do they? How different that is from today’s
news channels where you can’t get away from 24/7/365 news and commentary, mostly
commentary in the US, most of it aimed at the preferences of the audience. And
to boot, the news that we receive in the US is so benign compared to the way
news is presented in other parts of the world.
I’ve been reading about a bit of the tiff going on
between the news department and the commentary group at Fox News. Evidently, the
news folks think the talking heads are too dedicated to Trump and not the news.
How could they ever imagine Hannity and Tucker Carlson leaning toward the
right? Horrors! It does seem, though, that when news folks start shilling for
their preferred candidate at political rallies it gives away their bias.
Then there is Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC who starts
his nightly show with what seems like a ten-minute diatribe about how dumb,
stupid, unknowing and loathsome Trump is. He doesn’t even try to be fair and
balanced and doesn’t care who knows it. He makes Rachel Maddow seem downright
evenhanded, which she sort of is in an anti-Trump sort of way. To be fair,
however, MSNBC was as pro-Obama during his two terms as Fox is pro-Trump in his
one term.
The dust-up at Fox News has caused Trump to question
their loyalty. Because he questions their loyalty, so do 90 million other
people who follow his Twitter feed. He is so upset with the network that he is
recommending that they watch a fairly new but highly right-wing network called
ANN. People are moving their allegiance because they agree that Fox News isn’t
pro-Trump enough. I’m sure that it won’t be long before MSNBC watchers find a
more pro-Biden station and move their loyalty to another station.
Axios pointed out that the assault on ideology over
truth is growing. Not only are Trump supporters leaving Fox News for redder
pastures, but also reporters and columnists are leaving the New York Times
because it isn’t woke enough.[i]
While the conservative tends to be most comfortable with Facebook and the
liberal more comfortable with Twitter, except for you know who, that too is
changing as the right moves to Parler and Rumble.
And that brings us to the crux of the issue, doesn’t
it? We shouldn’t expect news networks to be pro anybody, should we? Don’t we want to know the truth? Don’t we
want to know the unvarnished goings-on in the world? I think we should want
neutrality in our news and keep opinions on the opinion page. News shouldn’t be
entertainment. Because we live in a globally connected world, we might benefit
if we knew what is going on in the rest of the world, where the Kardashian’s
new bathing suits aren’t the most important items of the day.
We are still trying to settle the election of a
couple of weeks ago. The Ivory Coast had an election recently. To date 85
people are dead in the uprisings over the reelection of their President. Do we
want to be like that? Ethiopia is in the midst of a civil war; I didn’t hear
about that on the evening news last night, but I did watch a long story about a
kid who has written a rap song about the letter “A.” Malaysia, a country of 33
million or so souls just reported its 50,000th case of Covid-19. It
has had 326 deaths from the virus. The US population is 10.15 times larger than
Malaysia. If the US Covid-19 death toll was equal to their virus death rate, we
would have had only 3,308 deaths from the virus. The media, slanted to one
ideology or another doesn’t furnish us with a decent level of real information
that we need to be good citizens of the world but encourages our insularity,
our political biases, and lack of perspective. One need only go to other
industrialized nations to see the difference.
Our presidential election, one of the sacred institutions
or our democracy, trampled upon this year with much of the blame laid at the
feet of the biased media. The election is settled, unless you change the laws
ex-post facto,[ii]
as the Trump campaign is trying to do in a couple of states. OK, a candidate
has certain legal options if he or she doesn’t think the results are accurate.
But the idea that a legislature, after millions of people have voted, would
negate the vote and appoint its own Presidential Electors, is kneeling on the
neck of our republican experiment in self-government. The President and his
media henchmen have convinced a large minority of Americans that the election
was rigged, all evidence to the contrary. It’s OK not to want to lose, but at
some point, pride has to give way to reality.
I’m stuck by the words of candidates who lost their
bid for President and one in particular who lost a second term:
Mitt
Romney: “I have just called President Obama to congratulate
him on his victory.”His supporters and his campaign also deserve
congratulations. I wish all of them well, but particularly the president, the
first lady and their daughters. This is a time of great challenges for America
and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation.”
John McCain: “The American people have spoken and they
have spoken clearly. A little while ago I had the honor of calling Sen. Barack
Obama to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country
that we both love.”
Al Gore: “Just
moments ago I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the
43rd president of the United States and I promised him that I wouldn’t call
him back this time. I offered to meet with him as soon as possible so we can
start to heal the divisions of the campaign and the contest through which we
just passed.”
George H.W. Bush: “Thank
you so much. Well, here's the way I see it. Here's the way we see it and the
country should see it -- that the people have spoken and we respect the majesty
of the democratic system. I just called Governor Clinton over in Little Rock
and offered my congratulations. He did run a strong campaign. I wish him well
in the White House. And I want the country to know that our entire
Administration will work closely with his team to insure the smooth transition
of power. There is important work to be done, and America must always come
first. So we will get behind this new President and wish him well.
And
to all who voted for us, voted for me, here, especially here, but all across
the country, thank you for your support. And we have fought the good fight and
we've kept the faith and I believe I have upheld the honor of the Presidency of
the United States. Now I ask that we stand behind our new President and
regardless of our differences, all Americans shared the same purpose: To make
this, the world's greatest nation, more safe and more secure and to guarantee
every American a shot at the American dream.”
Without biased media
stoking the fires of suspicion and descent, that is how our democracy should
work. The people speak, fellow-citizens count the votes, the loser concedes and pledges cooperation in the transition, because the country
is more important than one person, more important than one party or ideology, or
media ad revenue.
Democracy is not easy, it's hard and yet so
very fragile. It doesn’t take much to break it.
ADVERTISEMENT
[i] Axios, November 20, 2020,
Woke is a political term originating in the United States referring to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice.
[ii] An ex post facto law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law.
