If there were a "Media" forum ...

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the current issue of The New Yorker is particularly interesting (IMNSHO)

this was one of the articles that caught my eye.
there has been a lot of interesting discussion of media recently, and it's not about politics - though politics clearly comes into the discussion

lots of thought-provoking reading between the snips - the article's just too big to throw in here in its entirety

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050214fa_fact1

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FEAR AND FAVOR
by NICHOLAS LEMANN
Why is everyone mad at the mainstream media?
Issue of 2005-02-14 and 21
Posted 2005-02-07

Just before last fall's Presidential election, Bill Keller, the executive editor of the Times, and Philip Taubman, the paper's Washington bureau chief, went on the road to inspect the candidates' campaigns. In Florida, on October 22nd, they arranged to have drinks with Karl Rove, the White House's chief political strategist, and Dan Bartlett, its head of communications. It was supposed to be a friendly get-together, and that's how it went for the first few minutes, until Keller asked Rove what he thought of the Times' coverage. It's the sort of question that editors often ask important people, in the same spirit that a politician asks, "How'm I doing?," usually hoping for an answer somewhere in the lower-middle range of politeness and candor. But Rove, Keller told me not long ago, "pounded on us for two cocktails' worth of conversation." Saying what? "It was three kinds of things," Keller explained. "It was Bush accomplishments we had ignored, flaws in the Kerry record that we had put inside the paper, and a number of pieces we had done looking hard at the Bush record. In their view, that all amounted to arming the Kerry campaign."

Keller and I were talking in his office in the Times newsroom at nine one morning, a moment when most newspaper offices are empty and expectantly quiet, like a theatre a couple of hours before the curtain. Keller took his time describing the conversation, to suggest that he wasn't dismissing the criticisms out of hand. "Your initial reaction, especially in someone as ferocious as Rove, is to drop into a defensive crouch," he said. "But I try not to do that. I listened, with a fair measure of skepticism, because a lot of it is calculated. But there was some genuineness to it. He went through a long litany of complaints. I do think he was channelling a feeling about the New York Times that's out there in the land, that we should be concerned about, or at least aware of."

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An interesting article, really, ehbeth.

Certainly Rove had his agenda, but is the mega-media finally developing an appreciation for an e-savvy, blog-savvy readership?

A truly independent Times would be refreshing ... moderation in all things can apply to editorial policy, too.

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I don't think independence is often an option, whooda. Someone has to actually own the dang media sources - but it is interesting to see that some American media leaders (if we consider publishers and editors leaders) are thinking/reflecting/considering what's going on in the world around them. Or at least the country around them.

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Thanks, bethie. That last paragraph reflects my concern pretty precisely.

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Just to revisit one line from those excerpts:

"Journalism that is inquisitive and intellectually honest, that surprises and unsettles, didn't always exist."

Certainly this is true, and certainly there are those who would have inquisitive media silenced.

But we've seen the results of inquisitive media running amok, not just in tabloids ... take the Rather/CBS debacle ... and I forget his name, but the unsupervised reporter who posted fictional stories in The Times. When a medium leans too far from independent credibility, it runs the risk of a label.

The Times would do well to learn from Rove's lecture, heavy-handed as it may have been.

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Re: If there were a "Media" forum ...

ehBeth wrote:

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Yes, very worrying, indeed!

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Bookmark.

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WhoodaThunk wrote:

Just to revisit one line from those excerpts:

"Journalism that is inquisitive and intellectually honest, that surprises and unsettles, didn't always exist."

Certainly this is true, and certainly there are those who would have inquisitive media silenced.

But we've seen the results of inquisitive media running amok, not just in tabloids ... take the Rather/CBS debacle ... and I forget his name, but the unsupervised reporter who posted fictional stories in The Times. When a medium leans too far from independent credibility, it runs the risk of a label.

The Times would do well to learn from Rove's lecture, heavy-handed as it may have been.

What is your understanding of the CBS event? ( We'll just note that the times reporter you refer to wasn't a political reporter.)

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blatham wrote:

WhoodaThunk wrote:
Just to revisit one line from those excerpts:

"Journalism that is inquisitive and intellectually honest, that surprises and unsettles, didn't always exist."

Certainly this is true, and certainly there are those who would have inquisitive media silenced.

But we've seen the results of inquisitive media running amok, not just in tabloids ... take the Rather/CBS debacle ... and I forget his name, but the unsupervised reporter who posted fictional stories in The Times. When a medium leans too far from independent credibility, it runs the risk of a label.

The Times would do well to learn from Rove's lecture, heavy-handed as it may have been.

What is your understanding of the CBS event?

A major network anchor reported an unsubstantiated investigative report in the midst of a close and hotly-contested presidential campaign. Either the network's reputation or the anchor's could have lent a degree of respectability to any story. Their combined rep's did just that until an independent blogger revealed what should have been obvious to anyone in Journalism 101. Hence the question, why was Mr. Rather so anxious to present a story which could have no other effect than to smear the reputation of a sitting president?

What is your understanding?

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blatham wrote:

( We'll just note that the times reporter you refer to wasn't a political reporter.)

No, but Jayson Blair wasn't reporting on cookie recipes either. I believe the D.C. sniper thing was among his concocted stories.

This is from Slate's Jack Shafer:

"Blair ... got away with making things up for as long as he did because journalism is built on trust. As New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines told the Washington Post, 'Frankly, no newspaper in the world is set up to monitor for cheats and fabricators.' When an editor gives somebody a notebook and pencil and tells him to go out and report, it's a little bit like giving somebody you barely know a loaded gun. You expect him to use it wisely and honestly. But one slip, and there's hamburger all over the wallpaper! Hence, most reporters don't make things up because 1) they're as ethical as Jesus Christ or 2) they know they'll get caught."

This quote is basically a couple of journalists explaining away the Blair mess (and others like it) but they do note that journalism is based on trust. That trust is passed on to viewers and readers. When that trust is violated -- through fabrication, institutional bias, or plain old poor judgment -- then that particular medium risks losing credibility with its base.

All I'm attempting to say is The Times, which prides itself on being the biggest and best in print, has compromised its overall credibility by favoring one political ideology over another. The Blair mess merely added to the problem.

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It's very difficult for me to think of the NYTimes as a "liberal" paper. It seems, at times, they almost bend over backwards to be "fair and balanced" to the conservatives. They are certainly not, in any sense, a left-wing publication.

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