'The Mainstream Media Has a Republican Party Problem'

[empedocles]

Nov. 12, 2021

Produced by ‘The Ezra Klein Show’

“Making it harder to vote, and harder to understand what the party is really about — these are two parts of the same project” for the Republican Party, Jay Rosen writes. “The conflict with honest journalism is structural. To be its dwindling self, the G.O.P. has to also be at war with the press, unless of course the press folds under pressure.”

[You can listen to this episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” on Apple, Spotify, Google or wherever you get your podcasts.]

Rosen is a professor of journalism at N.Y.U., author of the blog “PressThink,” and one of America’s sharpest contemporary media critics. And his argument is a simple one: The media’s implicit model of American politics — of two coequal parties with competing governing philosophies — is fundamentally broken. Today, the most important axis of political conflict is not between left and right, but between pro- and anti-democracy forces.

The way Rosen sees it, the American mainstream press must make a choice: Will it double down on its commitment to detached, nonpartisan neutrality? Or will it choose instead to boldly and aggressively defend truth and democracy? . . . '

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/12/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jay-rosen.html

[Scrivener7]

1. Wow. That is awesome. And in the NYT, no less!

[empedocles]

3. Part of the problem, is that they NYT, is reaching out to a

nationwide audience. 'Appeal', for marketing is a major consideration.

trump gets blasted, but trump gives scoops to the NYT which broadens their market.

[NCDem47]

2. There are ad dollars on the line.

MSM will not alienate half of the American population. Therefore, they will normalize the actions of the Republican Party.

[Magoo48]

12. Yes, the MSM has corporate problem. They are censored by corporate owners.

[gulliver]

4. Do we really want the press "defending truth and democracy?"

That's a sure way to hurt the popularity of truth and democracy.

I say that with a bit of a wink, but think about it. With the kind of "reporting" a lot of the press currently do, I don't think they should bat cleanup in the lineup. They're, in a word, inept about half the time. They're Dunning Kruger examples. Sensationalism, innumeracy, arrogance, and, yes, incompetence in communication...these are modern journalism's curses.

[empedocles]

5. Such a 'can of worms'

Complicating things further, is journalism's appeal is about conflict. Conflict is not juicy if its one-sided, - which is part of the 'both-siderism' leanings.

And then, 'truth', itself, is a complicated concept - especially over time.

[gulliver]

11. Agree

News is a mixed bag. It wouldn't sell to a lot of people if it weren't full of (as you say) conflict.

[Kid Berwyn]

13. It's their job and duty.

The press is the only business mentioned by name in the Constitution.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” — Amendment I

The Founders, and enlightened free people since then, understood that free dissemination of ideas — particularly the truth — is the foundation for democracy.

[gulliver]

14. True, but not only theirs of course

It's everybody's job and duty to defend truth and democracy. That sometimes means not doing anything if you're not in a position or don't have the talent to do the job competently. First do no harm, like Hippocrates supposedly said. Some commentators and reporters in the press are gifted and belong on the front lines defending truth and democracy, imo. Others are klutzes at best and feed into mistrust of both the press and democracy. Still others, like our Fox "News" types are contemptible.

[empedocles]

6. Also, the NYT has long been known as national newspaper of record - [Wikipedia]

At many levels, that is an important thing - especially over time.

'New York Times Company: digital news subscribers 2021 ...
https://www.statista.com/statistics/315041/new...
13 rows · Sep 03, 2021 · There were 5.33 million paid subscribers to The New York Time Company's digital only news product ... '

[bullwinkle428]

7. To wit - look at CNN hyping this big interview with Chris Christie, trying

to set him up as some kind of "co-equal" opponent of Chump within the party, as if he carries anywhere near the same weight as any single member of the "cuckoo corps"; i.e., Gaetz, Greene, Jordan, Boebert, etc.

[empedocles]

9. Christie reflects a different point of view than the more 'popular' views -

- and, less tapped market segment if you will.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. False dichotomy: NOT a choice between neutrality and defense of democracy

"Both sides" is not nonpartisan and not neutral when one side is anti-truth, anti-science, and anti-democracy.

But it is definitely "detached" to pretend "both sides" is a proper journalist stance in search of the truth.

Lunatics don't get free time on TV to present their theory about giant killer hedgehogs named Spiny Norman. Well, they might if their initials are MPFC, but otherwise they just don't.

So, yes, cover both sides truthfully: "Joe Biden was sworn in as the duly elected and certified President of the United States. On the other side, fringe politicians are claiming without evidence that votes were changed by satellite from Italy. No more needs to be said on that, and so we will go now to a discussion looking forward to the steps Biden is likely to take against Climate Change."

[empedocles]

10. I agree, media needs to report the 'without evidence' part of the story

[However, the 'national newspaper of record' business proposition, the NYT does not want to be seen as an organ of the Democratic Party, or even as consistently . . . 'liberal'].

[Lonestarblue]

19. It isn't consistently liberal and never has been.

Yes, it has some liberal opinion writers—and some conservative ones. It published the Tom Cotton piece that got them a lot of blowback, I think because the essence of Cotton’s piece was that the president had every right to use the US military to commit violence against the American people.

But I have read the Times since the days of William Safire, an excellent writer but a nasty human being, who used his platform to help destroy Clintons. The Times contributed greatly to Hillary’s email problems during the 2916 campaigns, publishing repetitive articles with nothing new to say but keeping a negative topic in the headlines. Likewise, they downplayed any issues with the Trump Foundation and played up the fraud angle with the Clinton Foundation. We all know which one was fraudulent and forces to close.

Had the Times published as many articles about Trump’s bankruptcies and business failures as they did Hillary’s emails, voters might not have perceived him as this super successful businessman—which he wasn’t.

The only truly liberal media we have is some magazines like The Nation and The Republic. Mainstream media is interested only in creating conflict and ginning up outrage.

[Ford_Prefect]

15. The corporate owned media will go the line of least resistance to their own profits

and take the easiest route to more clickbait headlines.

The way Rosen sees it, the American mainstream press must make a choice: Will it double down on its commitment to detached, nonpartisan neutrality? Or will it choose instead to boldly and aggressively defend truth and democracy? . . . '

[TeamProg]

23. Exactly - whatever sadness, disasters, violence and general stress gets the most views at their

outlets.

It doesn't matter who's in power.

Stress sells !!

[dlk]

16. Understatement of the year

Too often their impartiality is a joke.

[peggysue2]

17. That is the choice:

. . . the American mainstream press must make a choice: Will it double down on its commitment to detached, nonpartisan neutrality? Or will it choose instead to boldly and aggressively defend truth and democracy? . . .


The other question is will American journalists have the courage to make the right choice for the sake of our democratic institutions or continue on their bothsiderism course? There's only one party defending democracy:

The Democratic Party.

We can all argue about policy and factions and messaging but the most critical element at this point is:

Will our democratic Republic survive and who/what is willing to stand, shout, scream in her defense?

The bitter irony is real journalism will be the first thing destroyed if this fight goes the wrong way. Journalists have not been labeled Enemies of the People for shits and giggles. The anti-democratic forces gathering on the horizon are deadly serious.

[empedocles]

18. It's worth noting, that most journalists have their own opinions,

[ 'to be or not to be', - say 'impartial'], but . . .,
. . . they also have their personal constituencies and contacts, editors, organizations, etc., which influence what they write - or are able to write.

[peggysue2]

26. No doubt that going against the flow isn't easy . . .

And a unified effort is required to push back against the obstacles. There has been some rousing of certain journalists but we need more, many more to start pointing to the growing danger.

Because we're all standing on this precipice together and journalists--whether they like to admit or not--are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of us.

[Carlitos Brigante]

20. They have failed and will continue to fail.. But I'm confident

they'll realize the error of their ways once Reichsmarshall Miller starts shipping them to the "Donald John Tiberius Trump Patriotic Re-education Camps (And Casinos) For Patriots Who Wanna Patriot Good".

[TeamProg]

21. Rural wing-nuts might like an authoritarian gub'mnt if they can lock up brown people at will.

But the wing-nuts won't like it when the same gub'mnt dictates to them b/c they're poor.

Ooooops - too late.

[Farmer-Rick]

22. Well, who owns the mainstream media?

It's not as if the media is equally owned by GOPers and Democrats. It's mostly owned by corporations owned by the filthy rich. The GOP thru the mainstream media is the main propaganda arm of the filthy rich.

So, of course they make it look as if we are NOT controlled by the filthy rich. As if 2 parties are equally represented. Which of course they are not.

We are currently ruled by a handful of filthy rich families. That is an oligarchy. We do Not have a democracy anymore. It's gone, fini, done.

[BobTheSubgenius]

24. Is it ironic to see this printed in NYT?

It surely can't be a hopeful sign, can it?

[sop]

25. There's been a intentional blurring of the lines between news reporting and news commentary.

News broadcasts once observed the difference between hard news and editorializing, usually providing commentary only at the end of the program, clearly warning viewers it was opinion. Now every single fact is immediately analyzed in real time by a panel of paid pundits pretending to be journalists.

[NoMoreRepugs]

27. Has BothSiderism become the new sacred cow of journalism??

[summer_in_TX]

28. The pressures of commercial success while money is fleeing to digital advertising

has most newspapers on the brink of folding.

We need to rethink journalism, the ONLY business mentioned in the Constitution, and consider subsidizing their work. Their mission of holding the powerful to account is essential.

There's a long history of subsidizing newspapers, after all. Cut rates for mailing newspapers and magazines. Public notices required by law and published in newspapers. We should consider subsidizing all news outlets – with the exception of those who have a high percentage of lying, of demeaning groups of Americans and teaching hate and fear towards them. General truthfulness should be a requirement to receive a subsidy.

[empedocles]

29. NYT & WaPo, are trying hard to go national/international.

They are getting customers, but profit margins are thin for digital.

'Dark money' sources do heavy subsidies for rightwing media 'octopussi' news outlets, - with strong content control.

PBS has a foothold - more is needed.

[summer_in_TX]

30. Exactly.

We the people need journalism and journalists. The pressures of commercialism are causing the NYT and event WaPo to resort to click bait headlines.