Where Is Journalism?
You might be operating under the assumption that news organizations and the journalists who work for them cover the news (whatever that is). You might even be right (depending upon what news is).
Here’s a bit of news that mainstream journalism has so far failed to fact-check or cover: FOX News, a product of News Corp., is apparently owned in part by the very man that the “journalists” in the segment below accuse of being a money man for radical Islam.
How should we know this?
I would hope by some act of journalism, i.e. reporters acting as custodians of fact with a discipline of verification with the primary purpose of giving citizens the information they need to be free and self-governing.
Instead, it was an act of satire. Behold:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Parent Company Trap | ||||
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If true, Jon Stewart has exposed a massive failure of journalistic ethics that has the effect of making it more difficult for citizens to be free and self-governing.
Journalistic lapses of ethics — willful ones such as this appears to be — are news precisely because good journalism is important.
So, is it true? Hello, New York Times? This is your backyard. (Not even the Daily News is touching it.)
Don’t hold your breath. American journalism refuses to hold itself accountable; it refuses to keep an eye on the franchise. It loves questioning the practices of other organizations — governmental and private. But itself? Forget it.
I have no beef whatsoever with the slant(s) of FOX news. I think good journalism can be practiced with a slant(s) because what’s important is that stuff I mentioned about about custodians, disciplines, and purposes. You don’t need a false objectivity to practice these values. I would argue that a false objectivity makes it more difficult to practice these values.
When a news organization fails, thus hurting the public, I’d prefer American journalism be the first to point it out and let Jon Stewart make jokes in the wake.
UPDATE: The New York Times covers the story, but not in print.
Thought you’d enjoy this: “a pundit suggested”
Did you catch WashPo writer suspended after Twitter hoax
Tim… Thanks for the times link. I’m glad someone else thought it was news
And I missed the WaPo story. Thanks for the heads-up!