This has to be read to be believed. But the truth is, Helen Thomas’ distress that “Everybody with a laptop thinks they’re a journalist, and everybody with a cellphone thinks they’re a photographer” is unfounded. Not least because, unlike Helen Thomas and the rest of the Democratic talking point spewing media, I make no laughable claims of impartiality, and when I make a mistake, I admit it promptly and in the same post where the original error was located. Journalism? I wouldn’t stoop to that.*
As for Helen’s concerns that “They can ruin lives, reputations, and once you send something into the air, it’s going to land, and there’s nothing that can curb them from saying anything they want,” tell it to the Tea Partiers falsely accused of racism. Tell it to John McCain after the NYT published ridiculous, false rumors of his infidelity during the campaign. Tell it to “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher. Tell it to Sarah Palin as you uncritically publish whatever her daughter’s ex-boyfriend vomits up. Tell it to the scientists who are ostracized because they think “consensus” is not science. Tell it to all of us who know what Pallywood is. Tell it to Toyota, which actually makes really safe cars. Tell it to insurance and pharmaceutical and oil companies, all of whose “obscene” profit margins are a fraction of Google’s apparently acceptable 27%. Tell it to the parents of children who died because of other people’s unvaccinated children – while Jenny McCarthy has enjoyed hours of uncritical airtime to dispense her medical advice.
I could go on listing examples for hours. For decades, journalists have presented themselves as unbiased, fair, impartial arbiters of the facts. And until fairly recently – since technology has wrestled away their exclusive possession of news delivery – people believed it. To whom much is given, much is expected, and that people are angry at the betrayal of the trust they invested in the media is entirely expected. The problem is not that journalists are liberal. It’s that they are liars and their whole profession is a sham.
Check out Henry Neufeld’s response – some very good points.
*Okay, there are a handful of journalists who are honest brokers of information; people I really admire. But in general, the profession is dying because it deserves to die.
