I feel like adding my two cents to the puzzling question of the media silence regarding this scandal. The indefensible media blackout smells of favoritism and protection. Given the scrutiny conservative organizations have endured, (i.e. Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh) this fairly straight forward clear example of felony fraud deserves national media exposure...the silence can only be attributed to partisan favoritism.
Our national media can and has spent months on the detail and nuance trying to uncover a scandal associated with either conservatives or the Republican party, but when a liberal organization steals nearly one million dollars from non-profits, half of it from poor inner city boys and girls...not a peep. This shameful favoritism has enabled the organization, Air America, to hush up the problem and avoid what should surely be a criminal investigation.
Where is the liberal New York attorney general? Absent. Where is the New York Times? Trying to find a way to explain its inconsistent Valerie Plame coverage. Why has the story been confined to conservative media outlets? There has been nothing said on any of the major networks.
These are legitimate questions that need to be answered by those who determine the stories and coverage of those maninstream media outlets. Without exception it has required a near cacophony in the blogosphere before media outlets will even acknowledge stories that are damaging to liberal policy or liberal organizations. That is completely without exception. In the past these stories have typically involved policy disagreements which were not favorable to liberals or Democrats. This story is different, but the media response has been the same.
Surely those in the media must realize how transparent this bias has become. It is one thing to acknowledge that most of your staff are made up of liberals...a conservative viewpoint is hard to obtain with that kind of built in bias...but it is quite another to give the appearance of pushing a liberal agenda by covering up liberal wrong doing! Opposing a policy on the editorial page is different from covering up criminal acts!
The media cover-up of the Air America scandal is more than just an example of media bias, it demonstrates just how far the media is willing to go to mislead the public. Apparently crminal acts committed by liberals are covered by this bias, not just policy disagreements. When an organization that has been stealing from the poor generates no response from the media outlets, a corner has been turned. These outlets should no longer consider themselves members of the media. If this story generates no coverage, they have become little more than partisan propaganda outlets.
A while back I heard or read an interview with a female reporter who was asked why she became a reporter. Her answer was something like this: she wanted to make a difference in the world. In that response I think we find the key to understanding the behavior of the liberal media.
It is not the job of a reporter to make a difference in the world. News happens. They, in theory, report it. The goal should be to tell the news with as much accuracy and objectivity as possible, to help get it right for history. It is the news that makes the difference to the world, not the reporter.
The reality is that there are a lot of reporters out there who see their jobs more as a means to making a ‘difference in the world’ than reporting the news as it happens. That misguided vision leads to inappropriate journalistic behavior which, as you say, turns the news into mere propaganda.
Let’s hear from a reporter whose only goal is to spread the news, fairly and accurately. That, by itself, is a lofty enough goal.
Posted by: Carol | August 09, 2005 at 09:23 AM