Focused read in 2-5 minutes,
more if you hit the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics link!
~ Personal Commentary:
There is no Law Compelling Media to be Honest but if Media Needs Such a Law (as it often Appears) we are in Trouble!
I have no memory of mass media
ever being perfect.
I do, however, have an old memory of CNN, the New
York Times and the Washington Post being my primary sources of
information, at one point in time, because I was relatively certain I was getting facts in reporting and I relatively certain I was getting analysis based on those facts.
Now I'm trying to remember
when it all went to hell. Yes, the two major newspapers noted above have shown promise of returning to journalism since Trump/Russia and CNN has shown some promise, randomly, but I wouldn't say media is in the clear, yet.
Putting aside the fact
that the GOP has been slowly but surely increasing big lies told in
the public square for a very long time, my memory tells me I really noticed it with the advent of President Clinton -- that much of media opted to
pretend big lies (having nothing to do with competency at the Oval
Office level, by the way) were news but not the tellers of
the big lies.
(For purposes of
simplicity, GOP is used here to represent the party of anti Federal
Supremacy, as codified in the U.S. Constitution, in favor to 50
sovereign states. The Democratic Party, if it comes up, will be used
to represent pro Federal Supremacy, as codified in the U.S.
Constitution, not in favor of 50 sovereign states.)
Then came media promoting Al Gore as a bore and George W. Bush as the guy to have a beer with at a barbecue; then came media looking the other
way while John Kerry's military honor was untruthfully savaged by the opposition
party; then came media parroting George W.'s lies about Iraq; then came media pretending they were covering
President Obama while ignoring the Civil War Era nullification of a sitting president by the opposition party and; then came media --joining in Hillary derangement, fueled by the opposition party, and skipping the vetting of Donald Trump, etc., etc., etc.
I believe the press is
protected by the 1st Amendment with the expectation that
it serves to inform the citizenry so they might make the best decisions possible in regard to the maintenance of the Republic.
As an activist and a
former journalist I don’t take their role lightly.
In fact, I hold the publishers and the broadcasters of information to a pretty high standard and if hear them miss that standard,
most notably as established by the Society of Professional
Journalists (SPJ), I share my thoughts with them.
We have a right to expect journalists to seek and to report truth and to provide analysis based on the truth; to source the information and to tell us who those sources are unless lives or jobs hang in the balance and; to disclose conflicts.
I believe our Founding
Fathers were clear on the important role communication played in
organizing a revolution and a new form of government even if they may
not have been as clear on the boundaries between truth, opinion,
campaigning, etc., as they might have been (not their job!).
Fortunately for us, by the
late 19th Century, a major newspaper owner, Adolph S. Ochs, declared
news to be impartial; the Progressive Era ushered in watchdog
journalism and; the early 20th Century Communications Act set the
tone for a mainstream media that served “the public interest...”
(Which, by the way, was not the "Fairness Doctrine," which called public broadcasts to present important issues to the public and to give various perspectives while doing so. That was eliminated under President Reagan.)
Today, much of media has
lost clarity on the boundaries that separate truth, opinion,
campaigning, activism, advertising, etc., much of the time. As a result, it is
more important than it has ever been that we, as consumers, accept
responsibility for critical thinking and for separating fact from
fiction.
Further, today we've also got Trump and Trump's got FOX News, Sinclair Broadcasting and the Voice of America at his
disposal to perpetuate his big lies so – prepare. Just saying.
“The
SPJ Code of Ethics is a statement of abiding principles... It is not a set of rules, rather a guide that encourages
all who engage in journalism to take responsibility for the
information they provide, regardless of medium. The code should be
read as a whole; individual principles should not be taken out of
context. It is not, nor can it be under the First Amendment, legally
enforceable.”
For
more thoughts on what you might consider you should expect from media,
you can read SPJ's Code of Ethics
here
* The above commentary is adapted from a piece I wrote in 2016. A lot has changed since then.
Then, I could go to the official website of candidate Hillary Clinton and the websites under the control of the Obama White House -- one layer removed from actual face-to-face meetings -- and get most facts. Today that is not true. Today, there is nothing to be trusted about a White House occupied by a proven teller of big lies who is under suspicion of collusion with Putin to invade our sovereignty and to steal an election or under any agency that exists under Donald Trump or an individual who works for him.
I am not naive. I do not believe blindly. My trust has been proven to be misplaced sometimes. But, overall, my trust has been put in the right place so it is with a lot of thought that I have switched my thinking from Trust and Verify to Distrust and Verify government and media.
When we are in crisis as a nation (and we are), it is our core foundation that sustains us. The purpose of media in our representative government per our founders was and is to hold government accountable and to inform the citizenry in our effort (s) to "perfect a more perfect union" but, as it always has been -- it is up to us to hold it accountable for truth.
To date, I have closely followed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and I've never found reason not to trust either of them on a professional level. I believe what they've told me. I will believe what they tell me -- unless proven otherwise.
Through the experience of following two of the most hated public servants (by the opposition) and two of the least followed and reported on with integrity (by media) -- I have found reason to trust some who work in media, an assumption I am always testing, and I note some of them at the end of every Blog.
I have always encouraged citizens to do homework and to communicate with representation whether that representation is via public servants and/or a media that has been tasked to serve us, as well. I still encourage that. Do homework and communicate -- read, ask questions and share facts and let them know that their citizens and their consumers are watching and making decisions about them.
(You can follow me on Twitter @GKMTNtwits where I communicate with some of the media I monitor, almost daily, to get an example of what I mean when I advise communicating with media!)
Focused Thought in 30 seconds
Then, I could go to the official website of candidate Hillary Clinton and the websites under the control of the Obama White House -- one layer removed from actual face-to-face meetings -- and get most facts. Today that is not true. Today, there is nothing to be trusted about a White House occupied by a proven teller of big lies who is under suspicion of collusion with Putin to invade our sovereignty and to steal an election or under any agency that exists under Donald Trump or an individual who works for him.
I am not naive. I do not believe blindly. My trust has been proven to be misplaced sometimes. But, overall, my trust has been put in the right place so it is with a lot of thought that I have switched my thinking from Trust and Verify to Distrust and Verify government and media.
When we are in crisis as a nation (and we are), it is our core foundation that sustains us. The purpose of media in our representative government per our founders was and is to hold government accountable and to inform the citizenry in our effort (s) to "perfect a more perfect union" but, as it always has been -- it is up to us to hold it accountable for truth.
To date, I have closely followed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and I've never found reason not to trust either of them on a professional level. I believe what they've told me. I will believe what they tell me -- unless proven otherwise.
Through the experience of following two of the most hated public servants (by the opposition) and two of the least followed and reported on with integrity (by media) -- I have found reason to trust some who work in media, an assumption I am always testing, and I note some of them at the end of every Blog.
I have always encouraged citizens to do homework and to communicate with representation whether that representation is via public servants and/or a media that has been tasked to serve us, as well. I still encourage that. Do homework and communicate -- read, ask questions and share facts and let them know that their citizens and their consumers are watching and making decisions about them.
(You can follow me on Twitter @GKMTNtwits where I communicate with some of the media I monitor, almost daily, to get an example of what I mean when I advise communicating with media!)
Focused Thought in 30 seconds
Focused Action 30 seconds
You can share my Tweet, the Guardian story and the Tracy Knauss meme here
( If you missed the story, you can read it here )
.
.
.
→ Direct sources for Democrats:
(Shared sources and "favorite, most informative follows" are shared with the understanding readers will apply their own critical thinking to the information they consume and that the list may change at any time for any reason. #StrongerTogether does not share lightly but -- no one is perfect!)
The Democratic Party Website
C-SPAN (a good place for speeches & hearings direct source (s))
→ Some of my favorite, most informative
follows on Twitter include:
US Intelligence +35 yrs | NYT Bestselling Author, Navy Senior Chief. NBC/MSNBC
Contributing editor, Vanity Fair; senior writer, Newsweek; MSNBC Contributor, New York Times bestselling author
Ari Melber
MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent | Lawyer | Writer | Emmy-winning reporter | Host of#ThePoint
Ari Berman
Author: Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America | |Writer:@thenation
Thank you for Networking for Democrats today!
.
.
.
(Linked) "...is our 2016 platform...a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
(Remember 2018...)
*
Curated by Gail Mountain, with occasional personal commentary, Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
( You can also find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GKMTNtwits )
*
Thank you for focusing!
g., aka Democrat
No comments:
Post a Comment