Lies, Damn Lies and Today’s Journalism

I edited the title from Mark Twain’s quote: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. That citation itself is worth another blog, but not today. Today I lament the demise of journalism.

The founding fathers placed immense importance on the role of journalists.

They believed that a free and independent press was not merely a luxury but an essential pillar of democracy. This vision was enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of the press.

Journalism has played a crucial role in our society. Heralded as the Fourth Estate, we used to rely on it as our watchdog for keeping a check on power, and a conduit for truth. “Lies, Damn Lies and Journalism” succinctly captures the frustration and skepticism that many have felt towards the media for the last decade-plus. We’ve seen our major news broadcasters and newspapers losing the lines between truth, exaggeration, and falsehood.

Once upon a time, legacy media—comprising newspapers, television, and radio—were the cornerstone of public trust. Esteemed institutions like The New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, and CNN. was trusted. Walter Cronkite of CBS News held a special trust. The public relied on these established outlets for unbiased and well-researched reporting. Via journalism, and in particular, investigative journalism, the American public is supposed to hear and see the truth involving the exposure of injustices and bringing corruption and cronyism to the light of day. What makes it even more frustrating is the corporate media crossing those lines deliberately.

Throughout our history, journalism has played a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and policy. The Watergate scandal led to a U.S. presidential resignation.

Our legacy media outlets have become voices of partisanship. They have become instruments of propaganda. Truth is accidental if it happens at all. If we didn’t know better, we’d think we lived in a countries like North Korea, Russia and China where the media is state-owned and paid for as a department of government.

According to Gallup as of 2024, only 31% of Americans say they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media, down from 32% last year, which tied the record low set in 2016.

At the same time, the percentage of Americans who say they have “not very much” trust in the media has risen from 27% in 2020 to 33%. Over the past two years, trust in the media has hit a record low (26%) among those ages 18-29.

Prior to 2004, more than half of the American population consistently said they trusted the media.

One can only wonder what happened to the journalistic code of ethics. Schools of journalism used to teach the importance of truthfulness, accuracy and fact-based communications, as well as independence, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, respect for others and public accountability – and how those ethics apply to the gathering, editing and dissemination of newsworthy information to the public.

Specifics such as verifying a story by two independent sources were exemplified. Add harm limitation. The latter involves an overriding public need that justifies intrusion into anyone’s privacy.

High profile examples of ignoring those principles include the Jesse Smollett hoax and the Coventry high school boy encounter with a native American. The lack of reporting on the physical and mental acuity loss of President Biden ranks up there also. These and many other stories were reported as truth without an ounce of journalistic effort to verify.

Recent cash settlements by corporate media should be a wake-up call to do the work required for facts and truth before reporting anything as reality. So far it doesn’t seem to have worked to limit libel, defamation and slander.

The political and ideological leanings of the reporters/journalists in most media not only is a determining factor on what is reported, but how.

This partisanship leads to selective coverage, where certain stories are highlighted while others are ignored, creating an unbalanced view of events. Readers and viewers have become aware of these biases and have not only become skeptical but have tuned out of the misinformation epidemic in journalism and the news.

More and more people, especially those younger, are now relying on their news coming from on-line sources, particularly social media.

We have learned the ethical and truthful standards of are no longer embraced by many members of the print and broadcast media.

Ergo, “Lies, Damn Lies and Journalism.”

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Have a great and prosperous week.

Hug somebody.

References:

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/15/media-trust-gallup-survey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_ethics_and_standards