FREEDOM OF THE PRESS OR PRESS OUT OF CONTROL - THE SUNDAY COMMENTARY

This week has once again focused the spotlight on what I believe to be the continual abuses and lack of judgment by a press whose only goals seem to be the destruction of individuals, reporting all that is negative and pushing their own political agenda. Responsible journalism has long become a thing of the past. The mainstream press has now become a shadow of what they used to be and in very many ways whether in print or the alphabet networks, (ABC, NBC, CBS), have become what they have always condemned, "Tabloid Journalists." The press has become more interested in exclusive or shock and scandal journalism than the truth and have abandoned the principles of confirmation and true investigative journalism which does not just reveal the gossip of shock value but digs down to find the actual truth behind a story. Instead today's version of, "investigated journalism, " consists of half truths that follow a certain political agenda and hear say gossip which when finally verified usually proves to be unreliable. The flack over the accidental shooting of Harry Whittington last week is but one example of this type of journalism. Though a very news worthy story and one that should have been reported, rather than focus on the facts of the story that the Vice President while on a hunting trip accidentally shot a good friend who stepped into his line of fire. The press chose to complain of when THEY were informed, speculate about possible affairs, a supposed drunk Vice President, invented criminal charges and conducted a death watch on Mr. Whittington then seemed disappointed when he held a press conference after being released from the hospital because of a better than expected recovery. When all of the speculation by the press was proven wrong was their a retraction ? No because they had succeeded in their shock value journalism and that is what mattered not the truth. Several weeks ago during the tragic story of the West Virginia coal miners accident, the press once again without confirmation revealed that the miners had survived only to find out several hours later later that just the opposite was true. Rather than wait for absolute confirmation of the truth, the press chose to broadcast hear say around the world building up the hopes of the families then like locusts swarmed to show the misery when the real truth was told to the families. The war is another prime example. How many times has anyone actually reported about an Iraqi school being rebuilt or a city back on its feet, or the successful work of our troops ? Very seldom. We are bombarded daily with a death toll designed to promote discouragement with the American people in order to push the liberal media agenda against the war and the President.

During WWII the press traveled with the military and saw first hand what was taking place and the absolute devastation that the war in Europe and the Pacific was causing while using the necessary means to defeat the enemy in both theatres. Yet news reports that were sent back to the States included more than just the devastation. Thousands of reports of the success and the advances of the troops succeeded in keeping moral at home and with the troops high which contributed to the final victory. Even when the post war recovery was in progress the press reported the successes and very little of the insurgency which was even more evident after WWII than it is today in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany supporters who refused to give up continued to fight allied troops for several years following the surrenders.

In 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated the press knew a full thirty minutes BEFORE his death was announced that Kennedy had died from his wounds yet journalist of that day though having one of the most important stories of the century at their grasp, did not report the death of the President until they had full confirmation fom Parkland Hospital.

During the McCarthy communist hunt during the fifties Edward R. Murrow while working for CBS news investigated the hearings and only after strict verification of sources and those that he personally interviewed did Murrow go public with what he had learned and his responsible journalism resulted in the censure of the Wisconsin Senator and the end of the McCarthy witch hunt. Nearing his retirement Murrow warned his fellow journalists, " To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful. "

Though tabloid journalism has its place because people love to gossip, responsible news and journalism is not that place. This age of disinformation in the news is stretching the first amendment right of freedom of the press beyond its limits. With freedom comes responsibility and the responsibility of the press within that freedom is to report the whole truth unbiased and confirmed and not just their truth or what they wish the public to hear so that a personal or corporate agenda might be promoted. Thomas Jefferson once said of the press, "The only security of all is in a free press, " but he also warned, "As for what is not true, you will always find abundance in the newspapers." Press abuses have been prevalent since the beginning of our Republic, but never to the extent and the damage that exists today. Balance, fairness and truth in journalism is a thing of the past and is a key source to the corrosion of our society and our way of life!

Ken Taylor