Wednesday, July 1, 1998 --- New York (APJP) -- Alex Jones, the Eugene Patterson Professor of Journalism at Duke University, wrote recently in Columbia Journalism Review:
But his lament may deflect attention from the most heinous disgrace of modern journalism -- the hunt for money despite the truth.
Professor Jones offers this warning -- and some advice -- in a piece about the recent White House Correspondents' Association dinner. This once prestigious event seemed more like a circus that an evening during which the President gives the keynote speech peppered with jokes about his audience, the "cream" of the American press. Professor Jones and we all recall last year's Correspondents' dinner, where Ellen DeGeneres cuddled her lover, Anne Heche. But this year, Insight -- a right wing tabloid "issues" magazine linked to the insufferable right-wing Washington Times -- invited convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy and wanna-be rich-girl Paula Jones -- to insult the President and as an insult to the Presidency.
It was nothing less.
Both Jones and Liddy refused to stand when the President and Mrs. Clinton walked into the room, and both refused to toast the President later that evening. There were few reports of the President's remarks that evening or the following day, but hours of tabloid-style banter on the networks and their cable affiliates about Jones' appearance.
Once-trusted and formerly respected journalists, led most prominently (and not surprisingly) by ABC's Sam Donaldson, pushed and shoved through the ever-growing crowd surrounding Jones' table looking for a photo-op. Others followed suit. The evening became a dismal "tribute" to outrageous behavior by men and women from whom the American people seek the truth.
Professor Jones expects a replay of this carnival at next year's Correspondents' Dinner, and suggests that members decline to attend, underscoring a word rarely if ever associated with journalism this days -- dignity.
Perhaps it is the President who should send his regrets next year.
We think an insidious and destructive plague is afoot in the journalistic community -- selling fantastic lies as nearly credible. Leading the pack are Sam Donaldson of ABC's This Week and Tim Russert of Meet the Press. Certainly, they are careful to stick a couple words of caution about truth in their programs -- even as they host and cavort with purveyors of half-truth to millions of viewers.
Nevertheless, it is these two who set the weekly tone for wider print and electronic venues. It is these two who have the biggest viewing audiences and the most to gain by making them bigger: a chase for ratings, money and fame has left the most important considerations of government and key issues of the day which affect the well-being of American citizens lagging.
Let us ask you -- when was the last time you remember either Donaldson or Russert in a serious discussion about the direction of the nation, the impact of welfare reform on minorities, or the increasingly volatile position of the United States as the last island of healthy capitalism on the globe? They no longer defend the rights of gay men and women -- instead, they ask questions of homosexual bashers, lending them more credibility rather than less.
Certainly, Russert, Donaldson and their press compatriots pay at least some lip service to issues other than who the President may have slept with in the past, but these moments are often buried in the middle of their hour-long harangues against the White House. The real "meat" is left for last in order to woo viewers to "stay tuned."
This week we find ourselves bombarded with discussions of Linda Tripp's "new image" as a working mom being escorted to the Grand Jury hearing room by her children. Tripp, dressed in black to cloak her Rubenesque figure, fails in her attempt to lure the people -- yet cable news channels attempt to help her elevate her dismal status as a "truth-teller" despite the fact that they have little or no information about what she will tell the Jury, or even whether what she tells will be in fact true.
Instead, they rely on "facts" leaked by others eager to make a profit from her celebrity, which will almost certainly result in book and even movie deals worth millions.
If one reflects on the six-year decline in journalistic attitude, only one trite conclusion can be reached: "It's the money, stupid!"
Americans deserve what they get from Sam, Cokie, Tim, John McLaughlin, and even upstart Tony Snow. After all, they know we enjoy scandal, so that is what they offer up and participate in -- even as they defend themselves against the Steve Brills of this world who attempt to point out their egregious failures and intellectual dishonesty.
All this damage… and for what? Ratings points, sales, ad revenues. No matter the damage to the Clintons or their daughter. No matter the nightmare it must be to be Monica, Paula, Kathleen or Gennifer. The name of the game is readers and viewers. The more the merrier -- and the higher the ad rates!
We at American Politics Journal noticed this trend years ago, before Salon, before Geraldo, before The New York Observer, and before Steve Brill. While we often took issue with the Clinton White House on matters of real substance like welfare reform, campaign finance reform and other less volatile issues, we too joined the ranks of pundits focusing on scandal. The only difference is that we chose to point out the facts -- or better yet, the lack of them -- on which pundits hung their hats and their reputations. It is no secret that we defend Bill Clinton's right to a private life. We have in fact been pilloried for this in numerous right wing forums. It is no secret that we do not condone what has devolved into a media trial, a witch hunt -- not, essentially, to "get" Bill Clinton -- but, as was the White House Correspondent's Dinner, just for the fun of it.
"For the fun of it." "For the profit of it." No excuse. As we approach a more serious time -- a time when the Congress will review the supposed travesties of Bill Clinton, as told by Kenneth Starr -- we urge the mainstream media to step back, assume their now-eroded role of truth tellers and take the grand opportunity to present a balanced and fair account of what we believe is a tempest in a highly political and profitable tea pot.
Journalists wonder why the public continues to support the President.
Well, you know, maybe it's true -- you can't fool them, all of them, all the time.
-- The Editors
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