An interesting story by Renee Loth in today's Boston Globe about a former Newsday editor teaching students at Stony Brook State University on Long Island about recognizing the three pillars of reliable journalism (independence, verification, and accountability). Citing a 2009 Pew Research survey, she notes that only 29 percent believed the media generally "get their facts straight" - the worst ranking ever recorded.
Not surprising, of course, in the age of cable news that are more entertainment and opinion masquerading as journalism ("Fair and Balanced" my ... you know what).
Perhaps that's why I don't rely on any single source (like the vast majority of those who watch Fox News) for news and information. I don't even trust MSNBC to give me the whole story: what they tell me, at least from 4 p.m. on, has a progressive bias, although Rachel Maddow does a very good job, in my view, of presenting the facts straight up and is scrupulous in her interviews to begin by asking if her factual preamble is accurate (which her guests nearly always admit is the case). Both Keith Olbermann and Rachel also aren't afraid to admit when they have goofed, accountability that is all but absent from Fox.
Come to think of it, Fox fails on all three prongs: it isn't independent (reading Republican talking points word-for-word, the protests to the contrary from Roger Ailes and Billow notwithstanding), doesn't verify much of what it spews out (as Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann point out, what it does is ask a question like "Is Obama moving the country towards socialism?", then use that question later as a bootstrap for reporting that "Some believe Obama is moving the country towards socialism", which finally morphs into the seemingly straightforward and factual declaration that "Obama is clearly a socialist."), and virtually never admits it has made an error, except when it is caught with its hand in the cookie jar, such as when Jon Stewart pointed out that it spliced into a Tea Party rally old footage of a much bigger Tea Party rally earlier in the year.
Come to think of it, Fox fails on all three prongs: it isn't independent (reading Republican talking points word-for-word, the protests to the contrary from Roger Ailes and Billow notwithstanding), doesn't verify much of what it spews out (as Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann point out, what it does is ask a question like "Is Obama moving the country towards socialism?", then use that question later as a bootstrap for reporting that "Some believe Obama is moving the country towards socialism", which finally morphs into the seemingly straightforward and factual declaration that "Obama is clearly a socialist."), and virtually never admits it has made an error, except when it is caught with its hand in the cookie jar, such as when Jon Stewart pointed out that it spliced into a Tea Party rally old footage of a much bigger Tea Party rally earlier in the year.
And I am afraid things are only going to get worse. The course at Stony Brook is a valiant effort to stem the tide (as is the work of such organizations as Media Matters), but the tsunami has already crested and to say we are drowning in a sea of half-truths and outright falsehoods is perhaps the understatement of the century.
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