Media Responsibility

My evenings begin like the evenings of many other Americans; I come home from work, prepare some dinner, and turn on the television to watch the days News. Flipping between channels I am bombarded by various slogans: “The Most Trusted Name in News” and “The Place for Politics.” I hear sound bytes, arguing, and lies from political operatives that go unquestioned, but it all means nothing to me, because I have a luxury many other Americans don’t: Time. I don’t have kids, or a spouse, or any other responsibility, my nights are freer than most other Americans and I am able to go online and spend hours finding facts and not spin.

But so many hard working Americans are too busy for that, especially as the economy worsens and people take second jobs just to pay the bills. Leisure time has become a fantasy for many, and for them news organizations have a serious responsibility to actually fulfill the claims of their slogans, because if they don’t then those busy Americans will have nothing to vote off of but lies and deceit carefully calculated by political insiders and powerful lobbyists (e.g. John McCain’s campaign staff). That situation doesn’t help America prosper; it hurts America, but instead of seeking to remedy the problem the news media has only added to it.

In the days leading up to the Iraq War they blew it completely, fearing the political backlash of questioning a post 9/11 war, they completely avoided doing the little bit of actual journalism it would have taken to destroy the shoddy argument that first got us into that war. During the 2004 elections, they spent so much time covering the “Swift Boat” attacks that they changed the national discourse of the elections, and gave validity to the false claims of that group. And now, during this election they concern themselves with the lack of cosmetics on our national pork supply instead of the real issues that plague everyday Americans.

But they have a chance to change that, they have a chance to atone for the sins of the past, there is still time to turn it all around. As the days get closer to November 4^th, they can begin to do some actual reporting and, as SNL so eloquently put it, grow a pair. The problem is that for some reason the media got the idea in its head that to be unbiased is to never expose the lies of one side or another. This could not be further from the truth, to have truly good unbiased reporting you have to expose the lies of both sides, but you have to give time proportional to the amount of lying done. So if Obama misrepresents what McCain meant by staying in Iraq for 100 years, then by all means, let the American public know. However, if Obama says that one lie on any given day, but McCain and Palin spend that same day blatantly lying about anything and everything to the point that even their surrogates can’t cover for their actions, then the media is obligated to spend that much more time exposing all of their lies.

When pundits come onto various news shows to debate, or more accurately, argue some point, the media has a responsibility to be an informed moderator, not just a fly on the wall. If I am a witness in a trial who saw a man steal from another man, and when I am called to testify I sit and say nothing, then I have not taken an unbiased stance. I have made my decision and it is silent support of the thief. Every time a news program invites political operatives to come speak on their show, and does not interrupt them and definitively tell us, the viewing public, that what they are saying is spin or just a blatant lie, they have chosen to side with the liar. The media has to be relied on to set the story straight, to be clear and truthful about the stories that they report, as well as the things that are said on their programs by outsiders. To do otherwise is to be biased.

This election will go on, and I can only hope that the news media will take this opportunity to redeem themselves in the eyes of us Americans. And as I watch the coverage, I hope to see every lie, from either side, exposed for what it truly is, every campaign ad scrutinized for truth, and every political shill who espouses lies in order to defend the candidate of their choice promptly interrupted and set straight, their audio feed cut if they try to yell over the moderator. In my eyes this is the only way the media can regain some of its dignity, fulfill its responsibility to busy Americans, and in the words of Jon Stewart, “stop hurting America.”