We hear that all the time from both sides of our political divide. Frankly, it’s frightening.
I’m a retired reporter and a grandmother. I know attacks on the media strike at the heart of democracy.
Even The Christian Science Monitor is worried. And it’s a good source. Last March it posted this headline article: “Trust in the Media has tanked. Are we entering a “post news” era?”
It stated: “Four in 10 Americans today say they have no confidence in the media’s news reporting.” It also found many people believe the news isn’t “relevant,” meaning they don’t care about it.
Here’s why that’s so frightening. Democracy cannot survive without a free press. That’s why the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects freedom of the press.
The First Amendment is “a check on power, holding the government and other institutions accountable to the public.” That check on power will collapse if people turn off the news.
This may seem like a lot of hooey from an overeducated East Coast elitist. But, no, I was born in Houston. I went to Texas schools and I’ve lived most of my life in Texas.
I retired in the Hill Country because it’s so beautiful and most of the people here abide by the Texas principles I learned growing up right after the end of World War II.
I loved being a reporter. I followed journalism’s greatest principle - tell both sides of the story so people have the facts. I went to places, met people, learned about their lives, did things I would never have gotten to do, including covering the story that haunts me to this day - an execution in Huntsville.
Today, the principle I lived by - “balanced reporting “ can contain “false equivalents” that mislead people. I think about Adolph Hitler every time I see that.
Hitler killed Germany’s free press and used its newspapers and radio stations to spread propaganda to attract millions of Germans. He caused a war that killed 70 to 80 million people, including 6 million Jews he executed so Germany’s pure blood would not BE“poisoned.”
The death of Germany’s free press is the greatest lesson in history about preserving democracy. And today, journalism itself has to be careful about destroying it. I got my Master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University.
It has the highest rated master’s degree in journalism in the U.S. Today, it’s dean is warning the public, its students and working journalists about telling both sides of the story: “Journalism must be about the facts. It must have objectivity….Objectivity does not require that we treat people’s arguments or statements as if they have an equality of merit. It requires that there be an equality of scrutiny. “
So if a news story says Biden is 81, does it say Trump is 77? Everyone should check it out. If not, it isn’t both sides of the story.
PARENTS TODAY SHOULD THINK ABOUT THAT. Do they want their kids to grow up in a democracy or a false equivalent?
Jodie Sinclair resides in Bandera County.
