Defining Journalism

When I was young, most people defined journalism as the act of delivering a factual description of events to inform the general public. Now journalism is pure advocacy.

I can still remember when news programs had a segment near the end that was labeled and clearly stated as the "Opinion" segment.  The anchor would turn to another camera and introduce his topic with a clear statement that he was going to share his opinion, often supported by a banner on the screen that read "Opinion".

These days nearly the entire program, regardless of network, is opinion.  NBC is the worst, but CBS, ABC, PBS, and CNN aren't far behind.  The presentation of each story is easy to deconstruct for its obvious design, which is to inculcate a specific attitude about the event in the audience. 

Those who would disagree with my premise will point to Fox News, which they say is far more partisan and manipulative with stories toward the Right than any of the other networks.  Sure, the trio of personalities on Fox & Friends are transparently conservative.  O'Reilly and Hannity make no attempt to hide their conservative advocacy, although O'Reilly is more fairly described as a Moderate.

Can anyone name a single hard news anchor on TV today, on any network, who sticks with the facts and does not editorialize or design the broadcast in an attempt to manage viewers' attitudes?  I think I can name only two: Bret Baier and Chris Wallace.  Both from Fox News.  Baier does stories straight, and I've never heard him go beyond the facts of the story to go on partisan rants.  Wallace interviews Republican and Democrat leaders every Sunday morning, and ask everybody very tough questions and is decidedly not chummy with leaders on either side, as are his counterparts on the other networks.

Let's use just one current story as an example.  The attack on the consulate in Benghazi that killed the Libyan Ambassador and the 4 former Seals who don't seem to have been there for any security-related purpose.  What questions would an ordinary American want answered about this disastrous event?

What was the mission of the Ambassador and the Seals?  Why was there no security there to protect them from possible attack, especially given that it was the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attack in New York?  Why wasn't the consulate hardened or protected against attack?  Are stories from State Department whistleblowers that the danger was foreseen and additional security requested and denied by Hillary or her top assistants true? Why did Susan Rice go on 5 different Sunday news shows to lie about the conditions and events of the attack, when it's now clear that the Obama administration knew at that time that the cover story she was peddling about the event was false?

Has anybody from the networks made any visible attempt to answer even one of those questions?  No.  All I've observed is an almost desperate attempt to cover for the White House and attack Romney for criticizing the president for his weak response and attempt to deflect the narrative toward a silly YouTube video.

Is there not one single reporter at CBS or ABC that has the slightest bit of curiosity about finding out the truth behind this disaster for America?  This is just the sort of expose that might one day have meant a Pulitzer for the intrepid reporter that managed to uncover the facts.  But today the networks do not dare pursue such a story, because heaven forbid it make their president look bad and possibly cause him to lose his re-election campaign!  Not to mention the president might punish the network by denying access to him for interviews if they dare publicize a story that casts him in a poor light.

I wonder why Fox News doesn't do the investigative journalism either.  Why can't one of the Fox reporters go out and dig up the facts of this debacle and present them on a Fox News Special or a special investigative series?

I have a guess.  Reporters from Fox News are pariahs in the halls of Democratic governance.  Doors are closed to them in the White House and the State Department.  They can only talk to people outside those opulent Washington buildings who may be able to give them background information, but they'll never get access to the folks on the inside who know what happened.

The country needs a news organization that is dedicated only to finding and reporting the truth.  That separates facts from opinion and presents news stories and does investigations that are unvarnished and unconcerned with the political affiliation of bad actors.  That trusts the American people to absorb their straightfoward stories and exposes and draw their own conclusions.

It's the only way a democratic republic can survive.